Description
Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope, first published in 1864–65, is the first novel in the six-book Palliser series and an incisive portrait of Victorian British society. The novel brings together questions of politics, marriage, social expectations and personal freedom, examining the values and ambitions of the privileged class that dominated public life in nineteenth-century Britain.
At the centre of the story is Alice Vavasor, a young woman torn between two very different men and uncertain about what she wants from marriage and from life. Her dilemma is echoed in the experiences of other women around her, including the unhappily married Lady Glencora, the flirtatious Mrs Greenow and Alice’s sensible cousin Kate. Alongside the romantic and domestic storylines, Trollope explores parliamentary elections and political ambition, revealing the tensions between public duty, private desire and the limited choices available to Victorian women.
