What is the difference between a romance and the marriage plot? I surmise, without credential or support, that marriage plots are written largely from the perspective of marriage as an economic enterprise with the focus on the male half of the courtship, and romances are specifically oriented to the experience of female love, especially female sexual love.
Whatever the difference is, Trollope’s Barsetshire cycle is all about the marriage plot (with the possible exception of The Warden, although there is a prominent courtship in that one, as well), but they are definitely not “romance novels.”
And, I hasten to add, they are delightful.
A warning: there are spoilers to follow, so if you want to be surprised by the events of Dr. Thorne and The Small House at Allington, stop reading now.

by Anthony Trollope
Rating: ★★★★½
Series: Chronicles of Barsetshire #3
Publication Date: January 1, 1858
Genre: classic
Pages: 557
ReRead?: Yes
Project: 2025 read my hoard, classics club round 2
Son of a bankrupt landowner, Frank Gresham is intent on marrying his beloved Mary Thorne, despite her illegitimacy and apparent poverty. Frank's ambitious mother and haughty aunt are set against the match, however, and push him to save the family's mortgaged estate by making a good marriage to a wealthy heiress. Only Mary's loving uncle, Dr Thorne, knows the secret of her birth and the fortune she is to inherit that will make her socially acceptable in the eyes of Frank's family - but the high-principled doctor believes she should be accepted on her own terms. A telling examination of the relationship between society, money and morality, Dr Thorne (1858) is enduringly popular for Trollope's affectionate depiction of rural English life and his deceptively simple portrayal of human nature.
I think that Dr. Thorne may contain my favorite of all of the courtships. Mary Thorne is so lovely, but Frank Gresham – he is a resolute hero.
In Trollope, the course of love does not run smooth. Frank is the only son and heir of a (rather minor) squire, who falls in love with Mary and never wavers. His mother, Lady Arabella, a pain in the ass woman if one has ever existed, is insistent that he marry money. His father has squandered most, if not all, of the family money and Frank is tasked with bringing the family fortunes back. Mary, on the other hand, is the adopted illegitimate daughter of Dr. Thorne’s sister, who was seduced by the drunken, but now wealthy, Louis Scatcherd.
When I mentioned the economic enterprise of marriage, Dr. Thorne really leans into to that aspect. And, indeed, marriage was one of the primary, if not the only, mechanisms by which individuals in Victorian England were able to change their class. They could marry up, into wealth and stature. Or, alternatively, they could marry down, into genteel poverty and loss of stature.
Lady Arabella married down. She wants Frank to marry up. Frank wants to marry Mary.
There is almost always a happy ending in Trollope. Except in:

by Anthony Trollope
Rating: ★★★★½
Series: Chronicles of Barsetshire #5
Publication Date: January 1, 1864
Genre: classic
Pages: 695
ReRead?: Yes
Project: 2025 read my hoard, classics club round 2
'She had resolved to trust in everything, and, having so trusted, she would not provide for herself any possibility of retreat.'
Lively and attractive, Lily Dale lives with her mother and sister at the Small House at Allington. She falls passionately in love with the suave Adolphus Crosbie, and is devastated when he abandons her for the aristocratic Lady Alexandrina de Courcy. But Lily has another suitor, Johnny Eames, who has been devoted to her since boyhood. Perhaps she can find renewed happiness in Johnny's courtship?
The Small House at Allington was among the most successful of Trollope's Barsetshire novels, and has retained its popularity among modern readers. This new edition identifies the novel as a subtle study of the heroism and the cost of constancy, drawing out the intense psychological drama which lies at the heart of the story, and how it reflects Trollope's divided feelings about change in a rapidly evolving world.
This is the penultimate book in the Chronicles, followed only by The Last Chronicle of Barset (which I am reading now). I would rank it behind both Framley Parsonage and Dr. Thorne, but I rank all of these books very high, so that doesn’t mean much. I just like the plots in the other two better. Strangely, I think that my least favorite, at least right now, is Barchester Towers. This is odd, because that one seems to be acknowledged as the best of the lot.
The Small House at Allington concerns itself with the romantic travails of the Dale girls, Lily and Bell, resident at the small house. Lily falls in love with the definitely unworthy Adolphus Crosbie – a man less like Frank Gresham cannot be imagined. I definitely got the impression that Lily surrendered everything to Crosbie, including, probably her virginity.
Here I channel my inner Taylor Swift, in Fifteen:
And Abigail gave everything she had
To a boy who changed his mind
And we both cried
‘Cause when you’re fifteen
And somebody tells you they love you
You’re gonna believe them
And when you’re fifteen
Don’t forget to look before you fall
Trollope creates a love triangle for us – Johnny Eames, a local young man, has been in love with her for as long as he can remember. When Crosbie jilts Lily, the reader, along with most of the neighborhood, roots for Johnny to get the girl. Lily takes a cue from Miss Havisham (without the dress or the rotting, spider web clad wedding cake) and decides that spinsterhood is her only option.
Crosbie and Johnny Eames each get what they deserve. And the marriage plot ends in a marriage, but not for Lily.
I first read the entire Chronicles a decade ago, in 2015, and have been waiting for a reread ever since. They are just as good – possibly better – the second time around. After The Last Chronicle of Barset, I will be moving on to Can You Forgive Her, which is the firsts book in the Palliser novels.