This is Trollope's eightieth tale. Though it is the work of an older man, it is perhaps the brightest and freshest novel he ever wrote. The story of a young woman forced to choose a husband from among three unsavory men, the novel is remarkable for its wealth of minor characters and it romantic exuberance. Ayala's Angel is a novel written by English author Anthony Trollope, between 25 April and 24 September 1878, although it was not published for two years. It was written as a stand-alone novel rather than as part of a series, though several of the minor characters appear in other novels by Trollope. The plot focuses on two orphaned sisters, Lucy and Ayala Dormer, Ayala especially, and their trials, with first their relatives, and then of the heart, though as in most Trollope novels, pages are given over to subplots related to the main plot.