Can You Forgive Her?, the first book in the Palliser series, is already available as part of HarryT's Palliser omnibus.
This version stands alone, has navigation and a preface, and is illustrated.
Anthony Trollope wrote forty-seven novels and five volumes of short stories as well as travel books, biographies and collections of sketches. The Barsetshire series and the six Palliser or 'political' books were the first novel-sequences to be written in English. His works offer an unsurpassed portrait of the professional and landed classes of Victorian England, often with his own sardonic asides. In his
Autobiography of Anthony Trollope (published posthumously in 1883) he described the self-discipline learned from his mother that enabled his prolific output: he would produce a given number of words per hour in the early morning, before work; he always wrote while travelling by rail or sea and as soon as he finished one novel he began another. He became one of England's most successful and popular writers.
Can You Forgive Her? was published in monthly istallments in 1864-1865 and in book form in 1864 (Volume I) and 1865 (Volume II) by Chapman and Hall. The first volume was illustrated by Hablot Browne (Phiz) and the second by Miss E Taylor.
Like many long serialised Victorian novels the plot is complex and sprawling. Most commentators seem to focus on the reactions of 'three strong women' (Alice Vavasour, Glencora Palliser, and Arabella Greenaway) and their relationships. To my mind a more important theme is the power struggle between men and women of the time: 'and it must be acknowledged that he behaved very well... But then, he had his own way in everything. Lady Glencora did not behave very well... But then, she had her own way in nothing.'
As always please let me know if of any errors so I can fix them.
Version 2, 19 November 2012, fixes a typo and blank pages on iPad/iBooks.
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