John Caldigate

By Anthony Trollope

Book Overview

John Caldigate is a novel written by Anthony Trollope, first published in 1879. The story follows the life of John Caldigate, a young man from England who travels to Australia in search of gold. While there, he falls in love with a young woman named Hester Bolton and they become engaged to be married. However, John soon returns to England without Hester, and he becomes involved with another woman, Julia Babington.As John prepares to marry Julia, he receives a letter from Hester claiming that they are already married. John denies the marriage and goes ahead with his plans to marry Julia. However, Hester comes to England to prove her case and John finds himself caught in a legal battle to prove his innocence.The novel explores themes of love, marriage, loyalty, and the consequences of one's actions. It also provides a glimpse into life in 19th century England and Australia. Trollope's writing style is characterized by his attention to detail and his ability to create complex, multi-dimensional characters. Overall, John Caldigate is a captivating and thought-provoking novel that has stood the test of time.Something more than a month had gone by, and John Caldigate and Mrs. Smith were very close companions. This had not been effected without considerable opposition, partly on the part of Shand, and partly by the ship's inhabitants generally. The inhabitants of the ship were inimical to Mrs. Smith. She was a woman who had no friends; and the very female who had first appeared as a friend was now the readiest to say hard things of her. And Caldigate was a handsome well-mannered young man. By this time all the ladies in the first-class knew very well who he was, and some of them had spoken to him.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1162669179
• ISBN13: 9781162669175
• Release Date: September 2010
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing
• Length: 500 Pages
• Weight: 1.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Pretty good book

John Caldigate is a somewhat weak-willed man where women are concerned, as well as where gambling occurs, so he has managed to bankrupt himself as well as get himself "engaged" to several women through the course of the book, all because he can't say No when he should. Women cause him the greater trouble, but when he eventually returns home to England as a wealthy man (hard work was what made him so) and marries the woman he truly loves, his greatest troubles are now with business associates from his past and his wife's relations. What poses a disaster for himself and his wife (mother of his infant son) is a relationship he had with a "fast" woman, an actress, while he was making his fortune in Australia. She shows up in England, wanting money, and claims that she is actually John's wife. Thus John's marriage is bigamous, his son illegitmate, and his wife downfallen. The extent to which her family interferes, even to kidnapping the wife, is outrageous and dramatic. In fact, most of this book is high drama. It is very entertaining, and it resolves itself nicely, although all John's former "fiancees" do spend much time being thankful that they never married him. There is humor here, and there is tension. A very good read.