John Caldigate

'John Caldigate' (1879) possesses in abundance the virtues of Trollope's writing: an attention-holding story told by a worldly-wise, kindly, fair-minded narrator, and a tale strong on what Trollope claimed as the leading feature of his novels, 'real' characters. While no Trollope novel can accurately be labeled a 'sensation novel, ' 'John Caldigate, ' the novel of a man accused of and standing trial for bigamy on the testimony of his former mistress, comes pretty close.

Perhaps it was more the fault of Daniel Caldigate the father than of his son John Caldigate that they two could not live together in comfort in the days of the young man's early youth.