Set in a village in the Vosges mountains in north-eastern France, The Golden Lion of Granpere was written when Trollope was at the height of his popularity. The novel concerns the events in the lives of an innkeeper's family; the relationship between George Voss, the landlord's son, and his beloved Marie, the rivalry between Voss and another suitor for Marie's hand in marriage, and the results of a betrothal based on mutual misunderstandings. A small-scale work, precise and detailed, it demonstrated a skill and level of social analysis peculiarly Trollope's own. This is a romance devoid of political dimension, yet acutely attentive to what a contemporary critic called 'the characteristic dress in which the small diplomacies of all kinds of social life clothe themselves'.