Recommendations
Books Like Can You Forgive Her?
Best books to read after Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope's first Palliser novel (1864-65) follows Alice Vavasor's serial romantic indecision and Lady Glencora's near-elopement, launching the political sequence with the two women whose choices define the moral world of the Palliser novels. These recommendations extend the experience through the Palliser sequence, through Victorian women's fiction, and through the tradition of the novel organized around female choice and its consequences.
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Phineas Finn
by Anthony Trollope
The second Palliser novel and the one that most directly develops the political world Can You Forgive Her? established — Phineas's parliamentary career extends the Palliser sequence from the question of women's choices to the question of political integrity; essential next reading for anyone who wants the full Palliser experience.
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The Eustace Diamonds
by Anthony Trollope
The third Palliser novel and the most immediately entertaining — Lizzie Eustace's systematic dishonesty is the darkest version of the female-choice theme that Can You Forgive Her? established in Alice Vavasor; the two novels together define the range of Trollope's interest in women who refuse conventional social compliance.
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Middlemarch
by George Eliot
The great Victorian companion to Can You Forgive Her? in its portrait of a woman whose idealism leads her into a disastrous marriage — Dorothea Brooke's mistake with Casaubon is the serious version of Alice Vavasor's mistake with George Vavasor; Eliot's analysis is deeper, but Trollope's social observation is more precise.
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The Mill on the Floss
by George Eliot
Eliot's most autobiographical novel shares Can You Forgive Her?'s interest in a passionate woman whose choices are not understood by the society around her — Maggie Tulliver's relationships with Philip Wakem and Stephen Guest parallel Alice Vavasor's indecisions, but in a darker social register where the consequences are more severe.
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The Prime Minister
by Anthony Trollope
The fifth Palliser novel and the political climax of the sequence Lady Glencora launched in Can You Forgive Her? — understanding Lady Glencora's role in The Prime Minister requires knowing the story of her near-elopement and how Palliser won her trust; the two novels frame the Palliser marriage at its beginning and its height.
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He Knew He Was Right
by Anthony Trollope
The darkest companion to Can You Forgive Her? in Trollope's output — the Trevelyan marriage begins with the same kind of conflict about a wife's social independence that the Palliser marriage navigated in Can You Forgive Her?, but ends in complete destruction; the tragic version of the story Can You Forgive Her? resolved happily.
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The Duke's Children
by Anthony Trollope
The sixth and final Palliser novel — the resolution of everything Can You Forgive Her? began; Glencora's absence pervades the novel, and the Duke's learning to accept his children's unsuitable loves is the conclusion of the process that Glencora's near-elopement started.
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The Portrait of a Lady
by Henry James
James's masterwork is the deepest literary response to the question Can You Forgive Her? raises — Isabel Archer's choice of Osmond over Goodwood is the serious, tragic version of Alice Vavasor's choice of George over John Grey; James asks the same question about female choice but refuses to forgive the social world that makes the question necessary.
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