FANNY TROLLOPE

Frances Trollope led a hard life until, after the age of 50, she wrote her wildly successful first book. Thence began a prolific and lucrative career as novelist and caustic essayist. Her novelist son, Anthony, is still admired today, while mom is all but forgotten. In this critical biography, Teresa Ransom argues that Fanny's vast literary output deserves more respect than the critical establishment has given it. Known in the U.S. chiefly for her comedic work in "Fawlty Towers," Prunella Scales lends her lovely voice and precise intonations to this tome in a detached, pedestrian, almost somnolent, reading that makes a dry book sound drier. Y.R. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 01]