From desert treks and imprisonment to unexpected love and bitter conflict, a historian chooses books that record remarkable, but often forgotten, lives
Few authors have imagined states breaking from their geopolitical allegiances – but Chesterton, Churchill and George RR Martin are among those who have
Its fake backdrops may be creaky and its pacing slow by today’s standards, but The Pallisers, the 1974 BBC Trollope adaptation now on daytime TV, wins you over with its nuance and emotional intelligence
London’s oldest bookshop chooses first instalment of Trollope’s Barsetshire Chronicles, The Warden, as best novel published since the shop’s opening in 1797
From the origins of Uncle Tom to the stories of revolutionary, radical women,
Michael Griffith takes us on a tour of literary Cincinnati – including Toni Morrison, Edmund White and a drive to attract America’s best poets
Poor man’s Dickens, or master of motives and manners? Authors pick the book that they most admire, from the Bishop of London on
The Prime Minister to Antonia Fraser on
Can You Forgive Her?
Anthony Trollope’s master manipulator, whose pious style veils monstrous ambition and lust, brings a timeless menace to leafy Barchester, says
Peter Kimpton
Decade-long project to restore 65,000 words of Trollope’s original manuscript results in ‘quite extraordinary’ version of the novel, writes
Alison Flood
Inspired by the author's fury at the corrupt state of England, and dismissed by critics at the time, The Way We Live Now is recognised as his masterpiece, writes Robert McCrum
Tips, links and suggestions Tips, links and suggestions: what are you reading this week?