Autobiography of Anthony Trollope

By: Anthony Trollope

Narrated by: Flo Gibson

What was Anthony Trollope's favorite Anthony Trollope book? Which was the most difficult for him to write? When he settled down by the fire for a good read, whose books did he choose? What nonliterary profession occupied him for much of his life? Learn the answers to these and other questions as one of the great authors in literature takes you on a guided tour of his personal and literary life.

Public Domain (P)2015 Audio Book Contractors, LLC

A different type of memoir

Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) wrote his autobiography and gave instruction to his son to have it published after his death. Trollope was one of England’s pre-eminent and most prolific novelists. Trollope said “the novelist must please, but also teach and preach, conveying his system of ethics just as the clergyman does.”

Trollope starts with his early childhood and the problems he had in school with the bullies. His father was an attorney who quit to be a farmer and lost all his money. His mother wrote novels to support the family. He was the youngest of nine children.

Trollope worked for the British post office for 33 years. In the book he tells about his routine of starting writing at 5:30 a.m. and would write for three hours, have breakfast and go to work at the post office. When he was stationed in Ireland by the post office he met and married an Irish girl in 1844.

The book tells little of his personal life and that of his family. The book covers mostly about his writing, how he developed a plot from things he saw or places he went to. His wife proofed his manuscripts before they went to the publisher. I was surprised at how many books he wrote before they began to sell.

Overall, I found the book a most interesting insight into a writer. Flo Gibson narrated the book. I think a male narrator, such as John Lee would have been better.