Can You Forgive Her?

By: Anthony Trollope

Narrated by: Timothy West

Length: 28 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Exclusively from Audible

Can You Forgive Her? is the first of the six in the Palliser series.

Trollope inextricably binds together the issues of parliamentary election and marriage, of politics and privacy. The values and aspirations of the governing stratum of Victorian society are ruthlessly examined, and none remains unscathed.

But above all Trollope focuses on the predicament of women. 'What should a woman do with her life?' asks Alice Vavasor of herself, and this theme is echoed by every other woman, from her friend, the uncomfortably married Lady Glencora, to her aunt, the coquettish Mrs. Greenow, as well as her clear-headed cousin, Kate.

Alice is torn between marrying her ambitious but violent cousin George or the bland but gentlemanly John Grey, ending up both accepting and rejecting each of them in turn and thus transgressing from the Victorian moral code.

In contrast, her friend Lady Glencora is forced to marry the rising politician Plantagenet Palliser to prevent the worthless Burgo Fitzgerald from wasting her vast fortune.

Trollope was considered one of the most successful and respected English writers of the Victorian era. With more than 40 published novels, they are regarded by some as among the greatest of 19th-century fiction. Many of his works covered political, social and gender issues. Fans of his work have included former British Prime Ministers Harold Macmillan and Sir John Major.

Narrator Biography

Timothy West is prolific in film, television, theatre and audiobooks. He has narrated a number of Anthony Trollope’s classics, including the six Chronicles of Barsetshire and The Pallisers series. He has also narrated volumes of Simon Schama’s A History of Britain and John Mortimer’s Rumpole on Trial. Timothy West’s theatre roles include King Lear, The Vote, Uncle Vanya, A Number, Quarter, and Coriolanus. His films include Ever After, Joan Of Arc, Endgame, Iris, The Day of the Jackal. On television, Timothy has appeared in Great Canal Journeys, Last Tango in Halifax and Bleak House.

Public Domain (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

amazing performance

What did you love best about Can You Forgive Her??

Just a quick appreciation for the reading by Timothy West: a wonderful job, including convincing regional accents and, perhaps even more impressive, subtle but effective response to the narrative.

I loved the Barchester Novels years ago but could never make much progress with the Palliser series; this reading has changed my mind; I find the reading, and the novel itself, rivetting. The kind of thing that gets you to clean up the garage just to have an excuse to keep listening.

What other book might you compare Can You Forgive Her? to and why?

As another reviewer suggested, I think, a newcomer to Trollope might be better off with Barchester Towers, but I liked Can You Forgive Her very much; a little like Mrs. Gaskell's North and South, without the social commentary. I'm no critic, but I think the exploration of female independence / willfulness has an interesting feminist dimension.

Great Trollope

Eighty chapters leave you wanting more. So many unforgettable characters. Many fascinating females and a few men. Cheers to you

Extraordinary narrator

I cannot believe how anyone could achieve such an amazing performance. The range of voices and the effective power of expression in each one adds so much life to this book. What a performance triumph!

Can you Forgive her by Anthony Trollope

I have read many Anthony Trollope stories and enjoyed all of them. I like his writing and I also enjoy the complexity of the plot and the perspicacious look at the lives it shows. I also enjoyed Timothy Wests reading of it. A perfect match with Trollope's story. Trollope wrote a lot of books. I will read more of them.

Brilliant reading!

The reader, Timothy West is a genius! Amazing reading of this wonderful novel. Thank you.

The Start of the Pallisers Series

This is the first novel in Trollope's "Palliser" series, introducing the central characters with the marriage of the flirtatious, flighty and beautiful Lady Glencora M'Cluskey and Plantagenet Palliser, rising Liberal politician and heir to the Duke of Omnium. Politics are never far away in these novels, but this particular installment in the series concentrates heavily on the dilemmas of two women, Lady Glencora, in love with a worthless reprobate, and married against her will to an earnest, good, but essentially dull man; and her cousin Alice Vavasor, who vacillates helplessly between two suitors, the handsome, good and safe John Grey, and her charismatic and dangerous cousin George, who shares her fascination with politics, and to whom she was once engaged.

No male Victorian novelist wrote more sympathetically about women than Trollope, but there is one issue on which he is perversely prejudiced, and that is in his belief that a woman, once she has given her heart and hand, should not change her mind, or ever fall in love with anybody else. In a previous novel, "The Small House at Allington", the heroine, Lily Dale, falls in love with a cad who jilts her, and then spends hundreds of pages refusing to marry a man who truly loves her, before finally dwindling into an old maid rather than betray her first love. Even at the time of publication, this was considered extremely unreasonable, and Trollope received many letters from irritated readers demanding that Lily should be allowed to marry her second suitor. (Modern readers generally feel more inclined to punch her.) At least by "Can You Forgive Her?", Trollope was more realistic on the subject: though Alice breaks off not one but two engagements, after many travails she is allowed a happy ending, and not even Trollope would have dared suggest that Glencora would have been happier with Burgo Fitzgerald.

All Timothy West's recordings of Trollope are brilliant and this is no exception. Highly recommended

Another brilliant performance.

I've now listened to every Timothy West narration of Trollope available on Audible. When I finished the Barchester series, I felt depressed. It was a happy day when I saw that "Can you Forgive," the first in the Palliser series,was released. Can't wait for the next one.

Trollope and West succeed - Again!

I love Anthony Trollope's stories, all the people and their fobiles. He's a master of dialogue and Timothy West portrays everyone so very well - he's a master of English dialects. So entertaining!

Very British reading for a very British book

A wonderful potboiler of a novel that has much more romance than politics in it. My only reservation was that the reader made Palliser and John Grey sound very old— when their characters aren’t. Otherwise, lots of fun and addictive listening.

big Trollope fan but..

I'm a fan of Trollope, especially Barchester Towers, bit was disappointed in Can You Forgive Her.