Can You Forgive Her?

Published in monthly instalments between 1864 and 1865, Can You Forgive Her? is the first novel in Anthony Trollope’s Palliser series, a richly observed exploration of love, marriage, political ambition, and the difficult pursuit of independence. Its central figure, Alice Vavasor, must decide whether to marry the dependable John Grey or return to her former fiancé, the charismatic but dangerously unstable George Vavasor. Around her, Lady Glencora Palliser struggles with the constraints of an advantageous marriage, while Alice’s aunt, Arabella Greenow, offers a more worldly and comic perspective on the possibilities of love and remarriage.

Trollope’s great subject is the pressure exerted by convention on private feeling, particularly upon women whose choices are circumscribed by money, family expectations, and social reputation. Rather than offering simple moral answers, he allows his characters to hesitate, contradict themselves, and discover how difficult it is to distinguish genuine desire from vanity or fear. Expansive, psychologically astute, and quietly radical in its treatment of women’s lives, the novel establishes the emotional and political concerns that will shape the Palliser sequence.

From the book

“Why shouldn't she marry John Grey if she likes him?”

— Anthony Trollope, Can You Forgive Her?

On Can You Forgive Her?

“A rewarding satire of the upper reaches of 19th-century society.”

— Alexander Larman, The Guardian