Anthony Trollope

Rachel Ray Annotated Anthony Trollope

Rachel Ray is an 1863 novel by Anthony Trollope. It recounts the story of a young woman who is forced to give up her fiancé because of baseless suspicions directed toward him by the members of her community, including her sister and the pastors of the two churches attended by her sister and mother. The novel was originally commissioned for Good Words, a popular magazine directed at pious Protestant readers. However, the magazine's editor, upon reading the galley proofs, concluded that the negative portrayals of the Low church and Evangelical characters would anger and alienate much of his readership. The novel was never published in serial form.