Both Rachel Ray's mother and elder sister are widows. They live a quiet life in their rural village, under the shadow of the nearby town of Baslehurst. When Rachel's attractions catch the eye of Luke Rowan—a young man recently arrived in town to develop a brewery in which he has a commercial interest—reactions are varied. Her friends are jealous, her pious sister affronted; and Luke's status in the town suffers a blow. While the nature of Rachel's attachment to Mr. Rowan provokes speculation, the affairs of others in the town run their own course. Rachel Ray is a tale of obstacles to the course of true love, told in Anthony Trollope's gentle and well-observed style. Yet Trollope laces this otherwise unexacting narrative with probing explorations of personal morals, religious integrity, and even political prejudice. It might now seem remarkable that this innocuous novel should have been the focus of controversy when it was serialized, but Trollope's capacity to display the potentially hypocritical elements in Christian morality drew the ire of certain prominent ministers. If anything, the controversy only fueled its commercial success after it was published in a single volume. Since then, its charms have won for it a continuing readership, appreciative of the deft and delicate strokes with which Trollope depicts a few moments in the life of a Devonshire town. Anthony Trollope (died 1882) was one of the most distinguished authors of the Victorian age. Their work has endured across generations and continues to be read and studied worldwide. As a work of classic literary fiction, Rachel Ray exemplifies the narrative craft and social insight that defined great storytelling of its era. Literary fiction of this period was characterized by careful attention to character psychology, social milieu, and the moral questions that animated public discourse.
