First published in 1870 when Benjamin Disraeli was sixty-six and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, "Lothair" follows its eponymous hero, rich and aristocratic but orphaned, as he attempts to find his place in the world. Before his father died he appointed two guardians, one a Scottish Presbyterian, the other a high-church Anglican clergyman who becomes a Roman Catholic and, eventually, a cardinal. Set against the backdrop of Giuseppe Garibaldi's attempts to create a united and independent Italy, Lothair finds himself at the centre of a battle between Protestantism and Catholicism to secure him as their own. Taking in England, Italy, Malta and the Holy Land and moving amongst the highest society of Europe, the novel follows its hero as he agonises over his faith as well as finds himself bewildered by love.