Anthony Trollope

Orley Farm Anthony Trollope

Orley Farm is a novel written in the realist mode by Anthony Trollope (1815-82), and illustrated by the Pre-Raphaelite artist John Everett Millais (1829-96). It was first published in monthly shilling parts by the London publisher Chapman and Hall. Although this novel appeared to have undersold (possibly because the shilling part was being overshadowed by magazines, such as The Cornhill, that offered a variety of stories and poems in each issue), Orley Farm became Trollope's personal favourite. George Orwell said the book contained "one of the most brilliant descriptions of a lawsuit in English fiction." The house in the book was based on a farm in Harrow once owned by the Trollope family. The real-life farm became a school, which was originally supposed to be the feeder school to Harrow School. It was renamed Orley Farm School after the novel, with Trollope's permission.