Set in Paris in the 1850s Trilby is the story of two English artists, a Scottish artist, and a Jewish rogue, masterful musician and hypnotist named Svengali. Trilby O'Ferrall, the novel's heroine, is a half-Irish girl working in Paris as an artists' model and laundress. Although the relationship between Trilby and Svengali forms only a small portion of the novel it was to become central to the novel's popularity.
Advertised in the Brisbane Courier as 'an original, musical, operatic, fantastic, burlesque of du Maurier's great work... [with] new songs, dances, sketches, comedies etc,' the story is set in 'the studi-o for the nudey-oh in the very late-in quarter-oh!' The principal characters are Trilby ('plenty of sole has our heroine sweet, but alas she carries it all in her feet'); Sven-Garlic ('a strong character'); Jacko ('up to monkey tricks'); and Madame Vineyard ('good wine needs no push') (13 March 1897, p.2).
