The Golden Lion of Granpere - Softcover

Set in a village in the Vosges mountains in north-eastern France, The Golden Lion of Granpere (1867) was written when Trollope was at the height of his popularity. The novel concerns the events in the lives of an innkeeper's family; the relationship between George Voss, the landlord's son, and his beloved Marie, the rivalry between Voss and another suitor for Marie's hand in marriage, and the results of a betrothal based on mutual misunderstandings. A small-scale work, precise and detailed, it demonstrated a skill and level of social analysis peculiarly Trollope's own. This is a romance devoid of political dimension, yet acutely attentive to what a contemporary critic called 'the characteristic dress in which the small diplomacies of all kinds of social life clothe themselves'.

Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) started his writing career while working in Ireland as a postal surveyor. Travelling around the country, Trollope gained knowledge of the country and its people which proved to be useful material for his first two novels, The Macdermots of Ballycloran (1847) and The Kellys and the O'Kellys (1848). Trollope soon started writing fiercely, producing a series entitled Chronicles of Barsetshire. The Warden, the first in the series, was published in 1855. Barchester Towers (1857), the comic masterpiece, Doctor Thorne (1858), Framley Parsonage (1861), The Small House at Allington (1864) and The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867) followed, portraying events in an imaginary English county of Barsetshire. In 1867, Trollope left the Post Office to run as a candidate for the Parliament. Having lost at the elections, Trollope focused on his writing. A satire from his later writing, The Way We Live Now (1875) is often viewed as Trollope's major work, however, his popularity and writing reputation diminished at the later stage of his life. Anthony Trollope died in London in 1882.