Rachel Ray

Despite a decreasing popularity throughout his career, Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) has become one of the most notable and respected English novelists of the Victorian Era. His penetrating novels on political, social and gender issues of his day have placed him among such nineteenth century literary icons as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and George Eliot. Trollope penned 47 novels in his career, in addition to various short stories, travel books and biographies. "Rachel Ray" is the story of a young brewer, Luke Rowan, who travels to Baslehurst in an effort to protect his interests in the Bengall and Tappitt brewery. There he meets and falls in love with a young woman named Rachel Ray, to the dismay of many who intended otherwise for the young man. This short novel offers an entertaining account of life in a small English town in the mid-nineteenth century, but more importantly illustrates Trollope's animosity towards the newly industrialized England and the demise of such Victorian values as nobility and service.