Trollope singled out Orley Farm for its successful combination of realistic and sensational effects which he felt to be the highest achievement of the novelist. It was greatly admired by his contemporaries, including George Eliot and G. H. Lewes. The novel centers on a case of forgery and the anguish, guilt, and pathos of the central character, Lady Mason. Youthful marriage choices, middle-aged martial crisis, and the moving love and loss of an elderly...