Anthony Trollope was born in a higher middle-class family in England in the Victorian era. His father was a less successful lawyer, who had difficulties providing for the large family. Although he didn't know much of agriculture, he embarked on it, but without success. In order to save the economy of the family, Anthony's mother, named Frances, and some of the children went to America to start a business company. This project also failed. The family was now ruined, and their home was sold at compulsory auction. The trip to America did, however, result in a book about American customs. Now, Frances Milton was able to establish herself as an author. She would write some forty entertainment novels. Anthony's childhood wasn't particularly happy. His father and two of his siblings died in tuberculosis. He wasn't successful in school. He was considered a little bit backwards. He couldn't write without making spelling mistakes and ink blots. The multiplication table was a pain for him. His family had difficulties paying his school fees, and he became unpopular with both teachers and students. After school, he wasn't sent to Cambridge like his brother, but got to work as the assistant to a traveling post inspector. For the first seven years within the postal service, he detested his job, but once he moved to Ireland, his life changed. He had managed to improve his writing and became a successful postal service employee, and he married a reserved woman, Rose Heseltine. In 1848, he was transferred back to England, and for many years he continued to travel the British colonies as part of his job as a post inspector. He could have been satisfied with going down in history as the man who introduced the typical English red pillar-like mailboxes in 1852, but he is also considered one of the great English realist authors of the 19th century.