Anthony Trollope

The Macdermots of Ballycloran Anthony Trollope

The Jupiter Edition of the Novels of Anthony Trollope: Volume 1 The Macdermots have lived on the Ballycloran estate of some 600 acres for generations. By the 1830s, old Larry Macdermot is in debt and the house is mortgaged. His son Thady finds himself struggling to meet the interest payments on the loan out of the thirty shillings an acre rents he is attempting to extract from the poor teneant farmers who are constantly in arrears with their payments. Thady's younger sister Feemy is fond of dancing and romantic novels. In an otherwise dull existence, Feemy has fallen in love with Captain Myles Ussher, the chief of the local revenue police, whose main responsibility is to prevent the illegal distillation of potheen. He is, as a result, hated by the locals and, even worse, he is a Protestant. Will Thady be able to restore the family's finances? Will he be able to prevent Feeming bringing disgrace upon the family name? Will he be drawn into the plots of local political activists against the life of Captain Ussher that might so conveniently rid him of the risk to his sister's honour?