An Eye for an Eye

Set between western Ireland and Dorsetshire, An Eye for an Eye was originally completed by Anthony Trollope in 1870, but held back from publication until 1879 following serialisation in the Whitehall Review. The story centres around the seduction of the beautiful young Kate O’Hara by heir to the Earl of Scroope, Fred Neville, who is stationed at a barracks in Ireland close to where Kate lives in poverty with her mother. The novel focusses on Fred’s inner torment when ordered by the Earl to end his romantic entanglement with Kate, and the conflict and complications which follow. Daring and surprising for the period in which it was published, Trollope covers topics such as pre-marital sex, illegitimate pregnancy and insanity in this tragic tale of love, duty and loss.
Anthony Trollope (1815 – 1882) was a Victorian writer and author of 47 novels. He also wrote an autobiography, short stories and plays, travel articles, reviews and lectures. A prolific writer, he made no secret of the fact that money was his motivation for writing – an admission which raised eyebrows among his literary contemporaries at the time. The amount of works Trollope authored are testament to his belief in hard work. His first successful novel was The Warden followed by its sequel, Barchester Towers. The Chronicles of Barsetshire are perhaps his most well-known series of novels, though many of his works have been adapted for TV and radio, starring many familiar faces such as Alan Rickman, David Tennant, Bill Nighy and Tom Hollander. Alongside his literary career, Trollope also worked for some time for the Post Office and is credited with the introduction of the iconic post box to Britain. A memorial to Anthony Trollope was unveiled in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey in 1993.