Donald RoyMy novel - 'The Election - A Modern Chronicle of Barsetshire' was published last November. Thus far I have only seen #ai attempts at reviews - some of them more accurate than others! However I have found it on offer in thirty five other countries than the #uk - which implies some interest in it. However some sites may be confusing me with two deceased people called donald roy - one a #sociologist in the #us and the other a cultural figure in #kingston-upon-hull !
The attempt to be roughly consistent with #anthonytrollope - albeit allowing for a gap of more than a half centuries - does seem to be recognised although I have yet to see how successful it is seen to be! Unlike some others who have used #barsetshire as a background my perspective has been from left of centre rather than from the right. In that respect I believe - possibly erroneously - that I am closer to the original .
Some of this also reflects more an urban focus - reflecting population shifts over the last century and a half. Writers from a more right wing perspective would have minimised this . However my #barchester is not one of the larger urban centres - which is which it forms the bulk of a single parliamentary constituency.
For most of the lifetime of #anthonytrollope there was no secret ballot in elections let alone restrictions on #electionexpenses. The electorate such as it was consisted of a minority of adult males. Conditions are now very different - although past venality may well have continued it would have moved upstream to the approval and selection processes for candidates by political parties . Such processes are key to the main plot line in the novel.
Once a political party perceives that it may have a reasonable chance of winning a particular parliamentary seat the choice of candidate will become of interest to one or more factions within it. Early in the novel #labour begins to recognise that this may be the case with 'barchester and barsetshire north; . This generates a rather messy process - and resentment at the successful candidate and faction thereafter particularly at national level.
#anthonytrollope despised the venality of politics that he observed and participated in as well as describing it in fictional form. It is for contemporary readers to judge how far his example has been followed in 'The Election -A Modern Chronicle of Barsetshire' .
The events in the novel take place in the post-pandemic period - and after the death of #elisabeththesecond - both markers to be found in the text. By implication also after #brexit . There is a reference to reparations for slavery and the word #woke occurs more than once. These should anchor them chronologically. By contrast some #ai reviews I have seen put them nearly a decade earlier.
Geographically #barchester has always lain inland somewhere to the west of #london . My novel anchors it somewhat by making it somewhere where the dubious and fictitious #northwessexdefenceleague - also known as the #neerdowells - operates. It is also put beyond easy daily commuting to #london - another anchor. The existence of a chalk ridge to the north of it - which includes a grove of #elmtrees - matches up with both.