The Courtship of Susan Bell

Anthony Trollope was a prolific Victorian writer. Trollope's best-loved works were known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, which center on the imaginary county of Basetshire. He wrote penetrating novels on political, social, and gender issues and conflicts. When Trollope returned to England after eighteen months in the colonies, he was horrified by the rampant immorality he found. Trollope describes Susan as follows, "Susan was not so good a girl in the kitchen or about the house as was her sister; but she was bright in the parlour, and if that motherly heart could have been made to give out its inmost secret-- which however, it could not have been made to give out in any way painful to dear Hetta--perhaps it might have been found that Susan was loved with the closest love. She was taller than her sister, and lighter; her eyes were blue as were her mother's; her hair was brighter than Hetta's, but not always so singularly neat. She had a dimple on her chin, whereas Hetta had none; dimples on her cheeks too, when she smiled; and, oh, such a mouth! There; my allowance of pages permits no more."