The Macdermots of Ballycloran (1847) is Trollope's first novel, set in the violent Ireland of the 1830s, far from the placid Barsetshire world that later brought him fame. Trollope portrays the destruction of the MacDermot family, victims at once of history, their own improvidence, and political hysteria. Trollope understood Irish life as few Englishmen have done, thanks to his long residence in Ireland.