SOURCE: Broughton, Trev. “Maastricht Romance.” Times Literary Supplement, no. 4706 (11 June 1993): 22.

In the following review, Broughton asserts that A Spanish Lover displays Trollope's keen ability to dissect the “beleaguered middle-class home,” though notes that the work is unsuccessful as a “post-feminist” romance novel.

Joanna Trollope's new novel [A Spanish Lover] follows the fortunes of Lizzie and Frances, twins in their thirties. Lizzie is firmly rooted in Trollope country: a “large but not boastful” house, a mild-mannered husband, an up-market small business and four blisteringly articulate children. The reader can guess that Lizzie probably reads House and Garden in the bathroom but never quite gets round to the Independent; that she thinks a great deal about cushion covers and fresh herbs; and that she could, without perceptibly missing a beat, rustle up pasta and salad for thirteen if guests dropped by unexpectedly.

Lizzie worries about Frances. Frances is unmarried and...