Set in the Middle East, but informed by the ramifications of of the repeal of the Corn Laws and the rise of Tractarianism, The Bertrams is a tale of doomed love and a remarkable blend of psychological insight, trenchant satire, and deft social comedy. Published in the same year as Darwin's Origin of Species its story of the contrasting careers of three Oxford graduates echoes the idea of the survival of the fittest. This fully annotated edition of the novel Trollope hoped would secure him a reputation as a serious author uses the original 1859 text. This book is intended for trollope fans; students and teachers of nineteenth-century literature and history, general.