The Eustace Diamonds
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First published in book form in 1872, The Eustace Diamonds follows the beautiful and resourceful Lizzie Eustace, a young widow determined to retain a valuable diamond necklace that her late husband’s family insists belongs to the estate. Her refusal to surrender the jewels sets off a protracted dispute involving lawyers, prospective husbands, social rivals, and the watchful machinery of Victorian respectability. As Lizzie moves through London drawing rooms and country houses, her talent for invention repeatedly tests the patience of those around her and the distinction between truth and plausible performance.
The third novel in Trollope’s Palliser series, The Eustace Diamonds combines social comedy with the intrigue of a sensation novel, using a contested necklace to examine property, marriage, money, and the precarious position of women within Victorian society. Lizzie is an elusive, often exasperating heroine, but Trollope’s wit prevents the novel from settling into simple condemnation. Beneath its entertaining plot lies a sharp inquiry into the values by which society measures respectability, exposing the uneasy relationship between moral worth, financial security, and the appearance of virtue.
From the book
“It was admitted by all her friends, and also by her enemies,—who were in truth the more numerous and active body of the two,—that Lizzie Greystock had done very well with herself.”
— Anthony Trollope, The Eustace Diamonds
On The Eustace Diamonds
“One of the most inveterate and gifted liars in Victorian fiction”
— Zubair S. Amir, Victorian Literature and Culture