Eligible bachelor falls for girl but has a snotty manner about him. Pretty girl falls right back but bristles at his attitude and is damned if she is going to let him know she likes him. Father wants it settled, mother thinks she knows how to play it, mild-mannered sister intervenes.

Where have you heard that before? [b:Pride and Prejudice|1885|Pride and Prejudice|Jane Austen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320399351s/1885.jpg|3060926]?It is essentially the same story. But there are several major differences between Trollope's and Austen's versions. Austen's was a book-length duelling of manners and confusions where there was time to play out the nuances and inferences that make the book so delightful. Trollope's version, a novella, by reason of length lacked the subtlety of Austen and it was just a headlong rush through the literary equivalent of uncooked meringue.

When Trollope writes well, it's blockbuster 5 stars all the way, think of the [b:Pallisers Novels|1171469|Palliser Novels|Anthony Trollope|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PR5xAagIL._SL75_.jpg|1159221], but Trollope was just as much about quantity as quality and this ranks right down there with the just as sickly [b:The Small House at Allington|144463|The Small House at Allington|Anthony Trollope|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172163443s/144463.jpg|3282131]. Bit like the little girl with the curl, when he was good he was very very good but when he was bad he was horrid. ( )

From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
A young man finds love with a vicar's daughter. ( )

From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
A young man finds love with a vicar's daughter. ( )

From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
A young man finds love with a vicar's daughter. ( )

From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
A young man finds love with a vicar's daughter. ( )