A friend dropped off five giant bags of books today. All donated to the PHoenix Association (animal rescue) Giant Book Sale in November. This has been on Nu-Knees wish list for a while, so I was really pleased to catch this copy for her 'Permanent Collection'.

On it's way to Nu-Knees via La Poste.

Oh, thank you very much, bluenoser. What a delightful addition to my permanent collection of Victorian classics! I do enjoy my Trollopes and have been wanting to read this one for a while. I can't remember why or who recommended this particular title but I know that something about it appealed at the time! Thank you for finding it for me :-)
I love this comment on the inside front flap: ...." Michael Sadleir said of Trollope's later novels, 'the great majority have one quality or another, one passage or one character, that entitles them to survival'. But in Is He Popenjoy? he finds no less than nine such characters" ....
Sounds good to me!

When I received this book, even when I started reading it, I didn't realise it was in two distinct volumes, the pages numbering from 1 to 320 and then again from 1 to 312.
My general impression at the end of Volume I is that our hero, Lord George, is an idiot and our heroine, his wife, Mary, Lady George, is charming - not that I'm biased in her favour or anything (LOL!)
At least I now understand the title which at first glance seems pretty meaningless! The first-born son and heir of the Marquis of Brotherton takes the title of Lord Popenjoy - but in this instance there seems to be some question as to whether the Marquis has a wife and son and if he has, when he married, whether his wife was legally free to marry him at the time, what happened to her first husband, and when said son was born .... The fact that it all took place, if it did, in Italy only adds to the mystery .... Is he Popenjoy indeed?

That was wonderful: a wonderful collection of characters interacting in a wonderful way to create a wonderful story! There's something about this Trollope love story that reads like a Victorian Mills and Boon romance (LOL!) Hero meets heroine, their love grows but is marred by troubles and misunderstandings, until love overcomes all and they live happily ever after by the final page ..... :-) And the question of Popenjoy's identity is very neatly answered to the satisfaction of all!
Thank you again, bluenoser - I'm really pleased to have read this one.

After getting to know mrsgaskell as a virtual BookCrossing friend over the past few years, it was great to meet her here in Knaresborough and put a face to a screen name this weekend! As she's another Trollope fan, I was pleased to give her this one she hasn't read to take back to Canada with her. Enjoy, it's fun!

We've had a thoroughly enjoyable day here in Knaresborough and I am delighted to have met Nu-Knees after 5 years of exchanging e-mails! A big thank you Nu-Knees to you and Mr.N-K for showing Mr.G and me around! And thanks for the books, too. It was lovely to sit over cups of tea discussing and exchanging books.

This sounds like an excellent Trollope (aren't they all?!) and I've been wanting to read it ever since you mentioned it.

Mary Lovelace, the pretty, gay, and innocent daughter of the wealthy Dean of Brotherton, marries Lord George Germain, the poor younger brother of the Marquis of Brotherton. Lord George, in Trollope's words, is "so grim, so gaunt, so sombre, and so old" but the Dean of Brotherton, having risen from humble origins, is ambitious for his daughter. He is hopeful that Lord George will succeed to the Marquisdom since the current Marquis is unmarried. Mary takes up residence at Manor Cross and strives to learn to love her husband. She refuses however to be dominated by his grim older sisters. The Marquis himself has resided in Italy for many years and maintained very little contact with the family. But soon conflicting information is received from Italy. In one letter the Marquis advises that he is to be married; in another, he announces that he has been married for a few years and is the father of a son who, if legitimate, would be Lord Popenjoy. The despicable Marquis also announces that he wishes his mother, sisters, brother to move out of Manor Cross prior to his imminent return with his family. The Dean and Lord George undertake investigations to determine if the supposed heir is legitimate but this causes conflict between them. Also, Lady Mary and Lord George spend the season in London where Lord George is again brought into contact with Mrs. Houghton to whom he had previously proposed marriage. And Mary meets Captain Jack De Baron who closely matches her youthful imaginations of a suitable lover. She also gets unwittingly drawn into the early feminist movement. This is an entertaining read with a great cast of characters. Some are completelely unlikable, and a few have surprising traits that in some measure reverse one's original opinions.

Thanks again Nu-Knees for sharing this, and to bluenoser for starting it on its journey in the first place. I've now read about a dozen Trollopes and have enjoyed them all! I think I'll probably take this to next week's local Bookcrossing meeting if I don't have a better idea in the meantime...

Well, I missed the last bookcrossing meetup for the stupidest possible reason - I plain and simply forgot! So, Is He Popenjoy? was still waiting for a new home. But this afternoon gypsysmom came by for tea and I thought she might be interested in giving Anthony Trollope a try. I hope you'll enjoy this and if you do there's the entire Barsetshire Chronicles and the Palliser series to look forward to as well as numerous standalone novels. In fact, Trollope can do wonders for a TBR list!! Happy reading!

As hard as it is to believe I have not read a word that Anthony Trollope wrote. Since it comes with high praise from Nu-Knees and mrsgaskell I think this is a good book with which to break that record.

Actually, after that last comment by mrsgaskell, I'm sort of hoping not to like it. My TBR pile does just fine on its own.

This is the first work by Anthony Trollope that I have read but it certainly won’t be the last. By the list of his books on the back cover it looks like I have many more to enjoy.
When I first read this title I had no idea who or what a Popenjoy was so let me clarify that right away. Lord Popenjoy is the title given to the oldest son of the present Marquis of Brotherton. Thus Popenjoy will one day be Brotherton unless some misfortune befalls him. The present Marquis of Brotherton has been living in Italy for many years leaving his mother, four sisters and younger brother in possession of the family home, Manor Cross. His brother, Lord George, has no money of his own and his sisters and mother have a very little bit of estate that enables them to live very modestly. When Lord George falls in love with his cousin, Adelaide de Baron, she rejects him because he has no fortune. Adelaide soon finds someone with money and becomes Adelaide Houghton. Lord George notices the daughter of the local clergyman, Mary Lovelace, who is, in fact, somewhat wealthy. He proposes to her father, the Dean of Brotherton, who approves of the match and recommends that Lord George ask Mary. The Dean is cognizant of the fact that the present Marquis has long been unmarried and thus has no heirs so George might, in time, become the Marquis. The possibility of a title for his daughter inclines him to favour the match, since he is the son of a stablekeeper.

The question of a person’s station in life is a dominant theme throughout the novel. It is hard for me, raised in a democratic modern society, to understand why so much importance was attached to titles. Certainly, the present Marquis of Brotherton is not “noble” as that word has generally been understood. Mary does marry Lord George but soon after they learn that the Marquis is also married and has an heir. In fact, the Marquis decides to return to England with his wife and son and turns his mother, sisters and brother out of Manor Cross. They decide to go to the dower house, Cross Hall, but the Marquis is not happy to have them so close to him. He refuses to have anything to do with the family except for a brief visit every Sunday with his mother. Lord George and the sisters, abetted by the Dean, question whether the son is legitimate since he was born before the Marquis said he was to be married. This question infuriates the Marquis and he becomes even more vindictive. He even tells the Dean, on one occasion, that Mary is a woman of loose morals. The Dean, bless his heart, picks him up and throws him into the (unlit) fireplace.
There are many trials and tribulations for Mary and Lord George and Trollope explores them deeply. If I have one complaint it is that the men in the novel are given far too much power over women. I know this was the era when women had no property rights but Trollope seems to imply that this is the natural course of things. Mary does rebel against some of the restrictions but she sees the error of her ways usually. I’m just glad I wasn’t born into that time period. I probably would have been one of the ladies Trollope makes fun of as being interested in women’s rights.

I'll take this book to the meet-up tonight. If no-one takes it home you can find it on the shelves of the OBCZ.

This book is currently sitting on the Winnipeg Official Bookcrossing Zone bookshelf in the loft of The Park Theatre & Movie Café, 698 Osborne Street, Winnipeg MB.

It is waiting there for a new reader to take home, read, and release back into the wild!

Winnipeg bookcrossers meet at my location on the second Wednesday of every month at 7pm to chat about books, swap great reads, and release on the OBCZ shelves. Please join us! We love to see new faces! You will enjoy the comfy atmosphere, the fabulous coffees and teas, and the yummy treats!

The bookshelf at Winnipeg's OBCZ was getting a little crowded. So, I selected this and a few others to take home with me. I plan to give them a new adventure in Little Free Library #2873. I do have a few Anthony Trollope books on Mt. TBR, yet I feel compelled to put this one on the heap before I release it to the library. Hmmm...

To the finder of this book:
I hope you enjoy your new read.

Welcome, also, to the wonderful and wacky world of BookCrossing! Here you'll find a unique and worldwide community of book lovers sharing their books. This book is now yours! Read it, enjoy it. Keep it or pass it on to someone you know, return it to any Little Free Library or even release it into the wild. It is all up to you.

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