Nina Balatka: The Story of a Maiden of Prague

By Anthony Trollope

A Christian girl of Prague falls in love with a Jewish merchant. One of the few novels published anonymously by Trollope, who was trying (unsuccessfully and unnecessarily) to disguise his style.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Start Classics
• Release date: May 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781609779818

Anthony Trollope

Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) was the third son of a barrister, who ruined his family by giving up the law for farming, and an industrious mother. After attending Winchester and Harrow, Trollope scraped into the General Post Office, London, in 1834, where he worked for seven years. In 1841 he was transferred to Ireland as a surveyor's clerk, and in 1844 married and settled at Clonmel. His first two novels were devoted to Irish life; his third, La Vendée, was historical. All were failures. After a distinguished career in the GPO, for which he invented the pillar box and travelled extensively abroad, Trollope resigned in 1867, earning his living from writing instead. He led an extensive social life, from which he drew material for his many social and political novels. The idea for The Warden (1855), the first of the six Barsetshire novels, came from a visit to Salisbury Close; with it came the characters whose fortunes were explored through the succeeding volumes, of which Doctor Thorne is the third.

Reviews for Nina Balatka

[lkernagh · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is my first foray into Trollope's works, so I don't know if this is a good one to start off with, especially as it appears Nina Balakta was published anonymously in Blackwood's Magazine by Trollope as an experiment and a departure from his usual style. First lesson I learned: skip past the Introduction. If you are like me and hope to experience Trollope's works at your own leisure, the spoiler for his "Barsetshire" books in the second paragraph of introduction was a bit frustrating to encounter. Oh well, as I said, I have now learned my lesson once again to avoid Introductions unless I am well read of the author's works. At first blush, this is a love story. Not quite Romeo and Juliet but our lovers - Nina and Anton - face their own hurdles for the love match. Trollope presents Prague of the time period and there is a lot of focus in this story on Christian/Jewish relationships and societal prejudices against such inter-faith marriages. Hard when not just the immediate families but their religious communities are set against such a match. Add to this a complication: Anton's family owns the house Nina and her ailing father live in. Anton's request for the deed to the house leads to much misinformation and lack of trust issues. Themes of poverty, antisemitism, societal pressures and isolation flow through this story. While this is my first Trollope read, I get the impression from some searches that Trollope's more popular stories have a lighter, humorous aspect. Trollope presents readers to a strong female lead in Nina. While we get to see inside Nina's thoughts and tumultuous emotions, I felt that the characterization and plot took a bit of a back seat to Trollope's social-religious-economic critique. Overall I found it interesting to see 17th century Prague through Trollope's pen.

[lindawwilson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

very good; about a Jewish man and a Christian girl; more of a novelette than a novel, actually caused a few tears which Trollope novels rarely do; read in Maui 2/08