The Prime Minister

Anthony Trollope

May 2014 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

Despite his mysterious antecedents, an unscrupulous financial speculator, Ferdinand Lopez, aspires to marry into respectability and wealth and join the ranks of British society. One of the nineteenth century's most memorable outsiders, Lopez's story is set against that of the ultimate insider, Plantagenet Palliser, Duke of Omnium, who reluctantly accepts the highest office of state, becoming "the greatest man in the greatest country in the world." The Prime Minister is the fifth in Trollope's six-volume Palliser series and a wonderfully subtle portrait of a marriage, political expediency, and misplaced love. Nicholas Shrimpton's introduction explores the many strands of this complex novel, the role of the "outsider" Ferdinand Lopez, and Trollope's great skill in integrating the two themes of love and politics, the marriage of Palliser and Lady Glencora and that of Emily Wharton and Ferdinand Lopez. The book includes a compact biography of Trollope, a wealth of useful explanatory notes, and a valuable appendix which outlines the chronology of the Palliser novels, providing a unique understanding of the series as a linked narrative.

About the author

Anthony Trollope was born in London, England on April 24, 1815. In 1834, he became a junior clerk in the General Post Office, London. In 1841, he became a deputy postal surveyor in Banagher, Ireland. He was sent on many postal missions ending up as a surveyor general in the post office outside of London. His first novel, The Macdermots of Ballycloran, was published in 1847. His other works included Castle Richmond, The Last Chronicle of Barset, Lady Anna, The Two Heroines of Plumplington, and The Noble Jilt. He died after suffering from a paralytic stroke on December 6, 1882.