Miss Mackenzie

"Miss Mackenzie is an old maid of 35. Poor Miss Mackenzie! She’s spent her previous years looking after ailing relatives—her father and her brother—and she gets left all this money. And she decides, ‘I want to live!’ So she goes to Bath with the intention of living and she eventually has three suitors. Trollope describes her as a thin and straggling old maid, but she’s grown into her looks a bit. Again, it’s about what she can hope for now, because she’s got money. Who’s an appropriate match? It’s just fun to see this woman, who’s been living this drab, dreadful existence, getting left all the money. The rest of the family are furious that she’s got the money and they don’t, and she decides she’s going to have a good time, which she does. No, not at all. She’s someone who has pretty much never been outside of her front door. She’s always been the dependent, the poor relation. The poor relation suddenly gets all the money and decides to go to Bath. She doesn’t really know what to do. She falls in with schemers, a number of people who—let’s just say—wish to relieve her of the burden of her wealth. It is funny that she’s this poor old maid who at age 35 is absolutely beyond it. As a woman, it does make you very aware of the changes, hopefully, in our lives. No. I do think The Eustace Diamonds is a good one to start with. Barchester Towers as well, because it introduces you to a lot of his most famous characters."