A tightly constructed and passionate study of enforced marriage in the world of Radical politics and social inequality. The novel records the lifelong attempt of Countess Lovel to justify her claim to her title, and her daughter Ann's legitimacy, after her husband announces that he already has a wife. Anna falles in love with the journeyman tailor and young Radical, Daniel Thwaite, but her mother wishes her to marry her cousin, heir to her father's title. Can Anna be allowed -- can she allow herself -- to change her mind? ...Trollope's ambivalence on the question is profound.