Even though I knew what had happened between the end of the last Palliser novel and that start of this next – and final – novel in said series, and yet the opening sentence of ‘The Duke’s Children’ was heart-breaking.“No one, probably, ever felt himself to be more alone in the world than our old friend the Duke of Omnium, when the Duchess died.”The brightest star of the Palliser family had been extinguished, and I was so sorry that I would never meet Lady Glencora again, and that I would never see her with her children, upon whom the spotlight falls in this story.I must give Trollope credit though, for the way he reported the death and its consequences. Their was no sentiment, only real emotion, and he explained exactly as a concerned friend should; showing concern speaking with restraint, and with understanding the greatest loss was to her family.And while I wish that he hadn’t done it, I think I can understand why he did; The Duke’s Children speaks about how the world changes, and about how one generation may have such different ideas, and may or may not learn, from their parents or from their children.Not long retired and weighed down by grief, the Duke found himself having to play a greater part in family life than he had before. He struggled, because there were things that Glencora had never told him, and because his three children ....Well, children who had inherited the very different strengths of their mother and father might have changed the world, but these children seemed to have inherited quite a few of their weaknesses.It was clear that Trollope’s sympathies lay mainly with their beleaguered father; and I have to say that, on the whole, mine did too.•Lord Silverbridge was his eldest child and the heir to his dukedom, and he was a constant worry to his father. He was sent down from Oxford for painting the Dean’s house red. He entangled himself with some dubious characters in the horsey set, and it took a great deal of money to disentangle him. He was elected to parliament, but, though the Pallisers had always been Whigs, he became a Tory. And then he fell in love with the grand-daughter of a dock-worker whose family had made money and risen up to the very top of American society.•Lady Mary was his only daughter. The Duke would learn that she was secretly to a friend of her elder brother; a penniless aspiring MP who he considered most unsuitable. He struggled with the knowledge that the Duchess had sanctioned the match shortly before her death, and that the Duchess had been prohibited from marrying the man she loved and steered towards a more advantageous match with him.That was heartbreaking, and as Lady Mary proved herself to be as wilful as her mother and as intransigent as her father, it was hard to see how both could be happy.•Gerald, the youngest, was at university. He narrowly avoided being sent down, like his brother; and his penchant for cards and horses cost him rather more than his generous allowance.They were all engaging, they all had such potential, and it was clear that they loved and respected their father, that they wanted him to be proud of them, but my goodness they had lessons to learn. That they couldn’t have everything as they wanted, that life would demand choices and compromises. That when they chose a course of action there would be consequences and they had to accept them.In time the Duke realised that, for the sake of his children, he had to make some compromises. It was so lovely, after seeing Plantagenet Palliser as a husband and as a politician, to see him as a parent who loved his children and who tried to do his best for them, even though he couldn’t quite understand or like their new their new modern ways.He couldn’t help admiring their spirit and determination, and he saw much of his beloved Glencora in them.There was little room for new characters outside the family circle to make an impression in this story, except for one. Lady Mabel Grex came from an old family, but it was a family in decline: her father and brother gambled away the family fortune, and so all she had was her good name. She needed to make a good marriage, and she could have made a good marriage, but her pride and her hauteur meant that both Frank Tregear, Lady Mary’s great love, and Lord Silverbridge slipped through her fingers. Of course she became embittered ……It would seem that Trollope too accepted that the world was changing.He brought the Palliser saga to a fine conclusion, with two weddings and the Duke returning to public life.I am so sorry that the story doesn’t continue, and that I have to part company with so many wonderful characters; but I am so glad that I now know why so many readers love Trollope, and that I still have a great many of his books ahead of me to read.
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.
Do You like book The Duke's Children (1996)?
It's Trollope, so of course I adored it, but this book didn't draw me in they way the other Pallisers did. The loss of one of the most compelling characters in the series in the first chapter was a huge blow, but of course some of the new characters introduced were quite engaging in themselves and it was a pleasure to become better acquainted with the Duke. Less excusable was the last line of the book--it was hard enough knowing there would be no further Palliser novels, but to be left more or less dangling?! I think I expected something more along the lines of the resolution to the Barchester series. Nevertheless it was an excellent novel, all my criticisms seem to be emotionally driven.
—Katherine
I have to say I was pretty sad to come to the end of the Palliser Chronicles, although this was in nowise my favorite of series. I mean really! What's with (view spoiler)[killing off Lady Glencora (hide spoiler)]
—Sarah Bringhurst
I think of Anthony Trollope like Thomas Hardy, but with a sense of humor. He definitely belongs to that category of Victorian writer who was wildly critical of class and gender hypocrisy of the period. Trollope tended to set all of his novels in the same fictional England; protagonists in one novel resurface as bit players in another novel. The plots weave in and out of each other. Taken as a whole, his fiction is amazingly intricate. And even taken one-by-one, they deserve a lot of artistic attention...if the social issues they speak about have little relevance to us now. Trollope drew really three-dimensional characters and, something very rare for a male writer of his time period, this includes his female characters. None of Trollope's characters are straight heroes or villains; they all by turns make decisions against their better judgment, feel regret, paint or sorrow, consciously act against dominant social mores, forgive each other or do not, occasionally do brave or large-hearted things, tell the truth and lie - they behave just as real people do and are, consequently, likable and irritating, depending on the decisions they have just made in the novel. They are a fine remedy for stereotypes. The Duke's Children is an interesting portrait of a man who does not know how to demonstrate his considerable love for his children. Like most men of the period, especially wealthy ones, he kept his children at arm's length out of some sense of propriety, of what is best for them and of what is appropriate for himself to be engaged in, i.e., this is a period when men were not supposed to be overly concerned with "domestic" matters, a purview under which their own children would fall until adulthood. The novel opens with the death of the duke's wife. His three children are adults or nearly so, but they are practical strangers to him just as they are entering into ages when they will make decisions to affect the rest of their lives, like career choices and marriage partners. Moreover, they have come of age in a time period when class and gender expectations of behavior were beginning to change. So this novel really tells the story of an older man coming to terms with the changing world around him via the decisions of his children, of which he tends to disapprove. It's not fascinating, but it is entertaining and has a lot of heart. While Trollope here has not given you any characters as memorable as Augustus Melmotte from his The Way We Live Now, he has offered a number of very likable ones and it is still a pleasure to read about them.
—Sara
