Doctor Thorne - Anthony Trollope

Published by Wordsworth Editions Limited: Hertfordshire, 1996 (1994).
First published 1858.
Book 3 in 'The Chronicles of Barsetshire.' Preceded by 'Barchester Tower.' Followed by 'Framley Parsonage.'

The third Barsetshire book I've read, and the third in the series - meaning I've finally started going in correct chronological order!

Doctor Thorne moves the focus of the series from the town of Barchester to nearby Greshambury, home of the Gresham family. Well-off and slightly snooty, the Greshams do however make room in their household for Mary Thorne, the niece of the titular Dr Thorne, and allow her to grow up with their children. Frank Gresham - the son and heir of the family - develops a crush on Mary, and gushes out an over-the-top proposal to her in a beautifully dramatic scene; Trollope is at his most comical in moments like this. However, Mary is from an unknown background, and (more shockingly) is poor(!) and Frank must marry rich in order to save his family from their financial troubles.

As is usual for Trollope, the narration involves a lot of commentary from the author himself, and in this case he informs us that Mary is the heroine of his story, and that readers could choose to see Frank as the hero, as he is the one who "will do the wooing" etc. Yet, Trollope informs us, he has chosen Doctor Thorne as his hero instead! The reason for this is revealed gradually, with a convoluted two-chapter set-up (Trollope apologises for this, and tells us he wishes he were a better writer) giving the history of Mary and her family ties as well as letting us in on what Dr Thorne knows that most other characters do not. 

Basically, Mary is slightly-possibly going to be the heir of a large estate, but only if two other rich and fairly villainous relatives die off first. Dr Thorne is friend to both the rich relative and to Frank's father (who owes a lot of money to that rich relative) and is also the doctor to the rich relative and is also the main executor of the rich relative's will. 

Dr Thorne remains the hero of the story because he steadfastly refuses to do anything he shouldn't: he treats each of his patients as well as he can, he doesn't reveal any secrets he shouldn't, he looks after all of his friendships as best he can, and he looks out for Mary, too. This is a lot of balls to keep up in the air, and does allow for moments of humour, and yet the end-game of the book becomes apparent far earlier than some of Trollope's other works, which leads to the final section dragging a little as we wait for the plot to catch up with what we know, or at least strongly suspect, will happen.

As with other Trollope works, Doctor Thorne is a well written, humorous work that is also a slow read and a prodcut of it's times. This is the most melodramatic Trollope work I've read so far, and although he is still obviously poking fun at such tropes, he is also engaging in them enough to make it authentic.

In the end, I enjoyed the majority of the book, but felt ready to end it a few days before I actually got to the end. For me, 11 days on one book is a massive investment, particularly considering I didn't have any others on the go.

Still, the Barsetshire chronicles continue to be my favourite Trollope works so far.

I just might take a while before I try another.

Completed 19 August 2026.

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(The Chronicles of Barsetshire)

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