Eva Trout (novel) why Iseult took the gun in exchange for the typewriter she left to Eric, Iseult states that it might be a matter of a "Hedda Gabler complex." In this play written by Henrik Ibsen, Hedda hands in a gun to another character to assist him in committing suicide. Eva Trout (novel) Eva Trout is Elizabeth Bowen's final novel and was shortlisted for the 1970 Booker Prize. First published in 1968, it is about a young woman—the —who, abandoned by her mother just after her birth, raised by nurses and nannies and educated by governesses all hired by her millionaire father,
Hedda Gabler party and reveals that he found the complete manuscript (the only copy) of Eilert's great work, which the latter lost while drunk. George is then called away to his aunt's house, leaving the manuscript in Hedda's possession. When Eilert next sees Hedda and Thea, he tells them that he has deliberately destroyed the manuscript. Thea is mortified, and it is revealed that it was the joint work of Eilert and herself. Hedda says nothing to contradict Eilert or to reassure Thea. After Thea has left, Hedda encourages Eilert to commit suicide, giving him a pistol that had belonged to her