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The Duke's Children (Palliser, #6)

Anthony Trollope,

Dinah Birch (Editor)

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Palliser Novels

* The Series
By Elizabeth (Al… · 6 posts · 37 views

last updated Feb 25, 2014 10:29AM

The Duke's Children
By Elizabeth (Al… · 3 posts · 24 views

last updated Feb 08, 2015 02:43PM

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What Members Thought

Apr 01, 2024 Lisa (NY) rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics-19th-century-earlier, 2024-tbr-shelf, audiobook

[4+] I will miss the dear Duke - stubborn and stolid, but so patient and loving with his impulsive children. It's not easy being a single parent after a life with the vibrant Lady Glencora! I find reading (listening to) Trollope a relaxing, meditative experience. I revel in the intricacies of the relationships, mostly ignore the politics, and find myself constantly surprised by the depth of Trollope's understanding of women.

I felt sad to finish this series and immediately Googled "Do the Pallis ...more

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Dec 19, 2011 Elizabeth (Alaska) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-star-reads, nineteenth-century, author-trollope, palliser

And so Trollope's Palliser series comes to a close. This is, again, a stand alone novel, and doesn't rely on previous works in the series. But you would be missing the joy of having read the others.

Plantagenet Palliser, the Duke of Omnium, is one of the wealthiest men in all of England, if not in fact *the* wealthiest. He started life in that manner and added to his wealth through marriage. His wealth increased during his lifetime because he was more interested in politics than spending money. And so Trollope's Palliser series comes to a close. This is, again, a stand alone novel, and doesn't rely on previous works in the series. But you would be missing the joy of having read the others.

Plantagenet Palliser, the Duke of Omnium, is one of the wealthiest men in all of England, if not in fact *the* wealthiest. He started life in that manner and added to his wealth through marriage. His wealth increased during his lifetime because he was more interested in politics than spending money. And, having been more interested in his life in politics than money, he also was not at home much to enjoy and influence his children as many fathers do.

The children (the heir, the second son, a beloved daughter) definitely respect their father. They don't just give that respect lip service, but truly feel it. However, they have lived with that wealth all of their lives and barely recognize their advantage. They also don't seem to fully understand their position in society and their *duty* as such. This causes the Duke much sadness. At one point, the Duke asks one of his sons, "What is money?" As the son gives the unsatisfactory answer of "sovereigns, coin, banknotes", the Duke then expounds "money is labor." Coming from the Duke this at first seems laughable, but read on - that paragraph or two continues to apply today.

Duty also applies to whom one is to marry.

The mutual assent which leads to marriage should no doubt be spontaneous. Who does not feel that? Young love should speak from its first doubtful unconscious spark, -- a spark which any breath of air may quench or cherish, -- till it becomes a flame which nothing can satisfy but the union of the two lovers. No one should be told to love, or bidden to marry, this man or that woman. The theory of this is plain to us all, and till we have sons or daughters whom we feel imperatively obliged to control, the theory is unassailable.

I have said elsewhere that Trollope talks to his readers.

Isabel Boncassen was certainly a very pretty girl. I wish that my reader would believe my simple assurance. But no such simple assurance was ever believed, and I doubt even whether any description will procure for me from the reader that amount of faith which I desire to achieve. But I must make the attempt.

Having now finished both of Trollope's series, I look forward to reading the other 30-something of his standalone novels. Some I have been given to understand are as good as those in his series and - hard as it is for me to believe - some are real stinkers. I guess I'll find out which is which. ...more

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