Kept in the Dark

Published shortly before his death, ‘Kept in the Dark’ is one of Anthony Trollope’s most captivating short stories. The young Cecilia Holt falls in love with George Western and the pair are soon engaged to be married. George confides in Cecilia his experience of a previous engagement, but harbours such ill-will towards his former match that Cecilia cannot bring herself to share the tale of her own earlier broken engagement. Cecilia’s ex-fiancée plots to expose her secret, with potentially devastating consequences. Themes of jealousy, betrayal, and estrangement are explored in this thrilling short story.

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.