Customer Reviews

The Duke's Children (Oxford World's Classics)

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Anthony Trollope tells a story in a leisurely, gently ironic way which is very enjoyable. I would rate this just behind his Barchester Chronicles, but ahead of his more dramatic novels. If you like sensational stories this is not for you. If you like masterly characterisation, and revealing insights into political manoeuverings in the English houses of parliament and the 'Upper Ten Thousand', you will like this. As always Trollope shows us what people are like, but with warmth and good humour.

The Duke's Children was the last of the great Palliser novels of Anthony Trollope - Can You Forgive Her (1864), Phineas Finn (1869) , The Eustace Diamonds (1873), Phineas Redux (1874), The Prime Minister (1876), and, as mentioned, The Duke's Children (1879). Trollope hoped that his public would read all six novels, although he doubted this was likely to happen given the many years separating the first novel of the series and the last.

I have read all six novels in order and recommend them highly. The Duke's Children is one of my favorites for several reasons. First, it has the least amount of Parliamentary baggage attached to it, unlike several other Palliser novels. Lord Silverbridge, the Duke's first son, is elected to Parliament, but spends little time and energy on this business. Instead he first falls in love with Lady Mabel Grex, the Duke's choice for his bride, and then a beautiful American girl, Isabel Boncassen. Lady Mabel is an extraordinary woman; Trollope gives her some of the greatest love scenes in Victorian literature. In the Palliser series of novels, he never wrote better or more convincingly than in describing Lady Mabel's conversations with Lord Silverbridge, or her first love, Frank Tregear.

Tregear and Lady Mabel decide to separate; Tregear then forms an alliance and later proposes to Lady Mary Palliser, the Duke's daughter. The Duke immediately rejects Tregear, a commoner, and the resolution of this romance forms an ongoing and important part of the novel. The Duke enlists the help of family and friends, but in the end, as the reader suspects from the beginning, the iron will of Lady Mary prevails.

Trollope loves his Duke, who is the one constant in all six novels. He is a nobleman in every sense of the word and recognized as such by all who meet him. In this last novel, his patience is sorely tried by his three children - the last, Gerald, is not much involved in the story, but when he is it is usually unpleasant for the Duke. For the first time in the six novels, we meet the Duke not primarily in Parliament, where he would prefer to be, but at home with his children; he is not altogether comfortable in this setting, but appears to soften toward his family as the novel and series finally come to an end.

Anthony Trollope is, in my opinion, the finest English novelist of manners. Few can match him when it comes to creating a world that comes alive and becomes as real for the reader as life itself. He is so skillful a writer that we feel included in the story he has created for us. When we put down his book at the end of an evening's reading, we take some of our involvement with the plot with us to think about in our own life; we are much the better for our association with Trollope. When the series concludes with the Duke finally at peace with his children, we experience a sense of satisfaction seldom experienced in reading great literature. The Duke's Children may be read as the first introduction to Anthony Trollope, but I recommend taking Trollope's advice and reading all the Palliser series of novels in order for one of the greatest and most lasting experiences found in literature.

The Duke of Omnium is the central figure of the six Palliser novels, of which this one is the last. He had appeared already in previous books before the sextet. He is Trollope's political mouthpiece: a conservative liberal. His convictions and speeches are modeled on Cicero's. By now he is a former Prime Minister and Chancellor, always a standard bearer for the liberal party.

In this novel, he suffers. First his wife dies out of the blue, from a disease. He is alone with three kids, who bring nothing but trouble. The beloved daughter dares to fall in love with a commoner without money (a conservative to boot!). The first son heaps it on: he gets into the horse racing world, hardly the proper social sphere for a future duke. On top of that he declares himself a conservative and enters parliament as such, rather than for his father's cherished liberals. On top of that he wants to marry an American, imagine that, rather than a proper local aristocrat. And the second son gets expelled from Cambridge for insubordination (the first had already been kicked out of Oxford for a prank before the book even starts).

The duke struggles. His liberal principles clash with his strict sense of caste propriety.
The entry of the American girl is where we enter Jamesland. The overlapping between Trollope and Henry James is nowhere more obvious than here. Compare The Duke's Children to several James stories, eg An International Incident, or to the thoughts expressed in The Point of View.
The similarity is mostly in the characters and their opinions about this and that. In language and narrative versatility, Trollope is not really on James' level. Strong enough for 5 stars any day.

Much as I hate to admit it, this last of the hugely entertaining Palliser Chronicles, is a dud. It's Trollope, of course, so it's beautifully written, with all of his usual political and psychological instincts intact. But he hasn't given himself much to work with. The Duke's children are a dull, uninteresting trio, and their troubles not particularly involving. Trollope explored the notion of love between the classes many times before, as well as the pitfalls of debt (Mark Robarts in "Framley Parsonage" and Felix Carbury in "The Way We Live Now" come to mind)...and in each instance did so with far more humor, energy and insight. And the loss of Glencora early on (the book's first sentence, actually!) leaves a hole from which Trollope never quite digs himself out. All in all, a necessary read for those who want to find out how it all ends, but not one they're likely to enjoy as much as previous volumes.

THE DUKE'S CHILDREN by Anthony Trollope is yet another gem, this one being a kind of finale for the Pallisers.
Poor Duke! a distracted father at best, he is left, after Glencora's death, with three almost-grown children-- each of whom, in his and her way, rebels against expectations that have long been a part of Platangenet's very being.
We return to Mrs. Finn and meet new characters, some American.
What a wonderful read from one of the literary geniuses of his time!

miranda de kay

Deprived of his wife, the Duchess, by death, the Duke of Omnium is deprived of the one person to whom he can show his feelings. Glencora linked him to the world. Now his daughter, Lady Mary, wants to marry inappropriately, his older son wants to run for Parliament as a member of the Conservative Party, and the Duke's heart is broken.

The Duke arranges for Lady Mary to leave Matching to visit Lady Cantrip. (The inappropriate romance reminds the Duke of Glencora and Burgo Fitsgerald.) Lord Gerald, the Duke's second son, is expelled from Cambridge, (Lord Silverbridge, the first, had been sent down from Oxford).

Next the Duke of St. Bungay writes to the Duke of Omnium about the formation of another Liberal ministry. The Duke of St. Bungay raises the points of capacity and duty with the Duke of Omnium. Lord Silverbridge's great desire is to do things to please the Duke of Omnium. Lord Silverbridge keeps endeavoring to propose to Lady Mabel Grex but circumstances always frustrate him. (Proposing to Lady Mabel may please his father.)

Grex, the building, was erected during the days of James I. It is the country seat of Earl Grex, and Lady Mabel loves it. Frank Tregear visits Grex and is charged by Lady Mabel for being false to her and their love because he is pursuing Lady Mary who has more advantages. Lord Silverbridge arranges to go to Scotland for a shooting party because the location puts him in the vicinity of Grex.

Lord Silverbridge and Lady Mabel see each other, but they are at cross purposes. In the meantime, Mrs. Montacute Jones throws Lord Silverbridge into the company of Isabel Boncassen, an American. After Silverbridge asks Isabel to be his wife, he is told to come see her after three months.

The Duke's relationship with his children is fraught. They encounter obstacles of class, hunting, gambling, racing, politics, and even honor that bewilder him. The author stresses and portrays admirably the Duke's kindness. This is Trollope's mature work and is both more ample and pithier, (more focused), than some of the others.

The Duke has meant to protect Lady Mary, now motherless, by means of installing female chaperones, (friends of the family). In his stiff way he speaks to one of them of her power and she exclaims in response that no one has deputed authority anymore.