The year 1874 saw the conclusion in London of a much publicized court case involving an unlikely pretender to an English baronetcy. Trollope responded to the public's interest in scandal with this novel, which traces the claim of a shadowy figure to the marquisate of Brotherton. At the center of the novel is the question of an inheritance, another common Trollope theme, and whether George's older brother, the Marquis, not only has a legitimate marriage but consequently a legitimate son and heir to the family fortune. The novel is full of sensational elements and is highly revealing of the social issues of the mid-1870s.