As we've been reading the first of the Palliser books, it's been surprising to me that Lady Glencora's marriage to Plantagenet Palliser is so unhappy, for her at least. This is only because I remember that we first met them in Barsetshire, and there didn't seem to be a cloud hanging over their heads. Of course, I didn't remember much else {I realized a long time ago that my retention of what I read is really, really appalling}.
So I did a little bit of looking back, and was reminded that in The Small House at Arlington we had the whole story of Lady Glencora chucking Burgo Fitzgerald for Mr. Palliser ... and even better, one of my favorite scenes in all of the Barsets, the one where Mr. Palliser flirts so shockingly with Archdeacon Grantly's married daughter, Lady Dumbello. {I'm feeling a little faint just thinking about it, but if you must you can read about it here.} I should (sniff) have known I wouldn't like him very much, at least not so far.
And then I also found it interesting that Mr. T. published both The Small House at Allington and Can You Forgive Her? in the same year (1864). Of course, the whole joy of reading books in a series is that you get to meet your favorite characters again, but could this also have been a subtle bit of advertising?
In an event, we're midway through Can You Forgive Her?, and I think our #PalliserParty is off to a great start.
3 comments:
I have two Pallisers left to go and I'm delighted that I'm just in time for the newly republished final Palliser novel, The Duke's Children, which is finally unabridged. It comes out in April so I'll be able to participate for the last two in the series!
We'll love having you read with us!
I've been eager to dive into the Palliser novels just to encounter some Barsetshire characters again.
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