'The Way We Live Now' by Anthony Trollope

This summer marks 150 years since this huge novel was first published in June 1875. In my Penguin Classis edition it runs to nearly 800 pages and was the longest book that Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) wrote. He was by this time very well-established and at the height of his abilities. The novel is one that many rate as his best and it remains a superbly enjoyable read.

It is intended to be a satire on the way that the upper middle classes conducted themselves in the 1870s, its main themes being the impossibility of reconciling prevalent values and motives. In the main it focuses on money, love and social class, but there are other themes included too, notably prejudice against Jewish and Catholic people which while waning by this time was still very present.

There are two superbly portrayed villains in this take in the form of the apparently super-wealthy fraudster Augustus Melmotte and a seriously handsome but utterly selfish and dissolute young rake of a baronet called Sir Felix Carberry who is interested in marrying his daughter for her fortune. They are centre stage, but there are at least a dozen other memorable characters, including three most impressive young women.

The plot has a soap opera character, but it retains your interest not least because the writing is so elegant and vibrant.

Trollope writes with marvellous enthusiasm, juggling several sub-plots at the same time, drawing his readers in and keeping them on board through exactly 100 chapters. Moreover - and this is what I really like about his writing - everything is completely believable. He never finds a need to stretch credulity. It is a masterly example of an English middlebrow novel of a kind I find delightful. I have read it twice now, and would not be surprised if I give it a third read before my days are out.