Trollope inextricably binds together the issues of parliamentary election and marriage, of politics and privacy. The values and aspirations of the governing stratum of Victorian society are ruthlessly examined, and none remains unscathed. But it is above all on the predicament of women that Trollope focuses.
These fantastically imaginative origin stories are amongst the best known of Kipling's works, and offer entertaining explanations as to how various animals came into being.