After a miserable childhood and misspent youth, Trollope turned his life around, becoming both a senior civil servant and a best-selling novelist. Best-known for the two series of novels grouped loosely around the clerical and political professions, the Barsetshire and Palliser series, in this work Trollope frankly describes his writing habits. This edition also includes a selection of his critical writings to show how subtle and complex his approach to literature really was