Question 1

Do I need to read the earlier Palliser novels before The Duke's Children?

Accepted Answer

You don't need to, but the novel loses significant emotional depth without knowledge of the Palliser marriage as established in Can You Forgive Her? and developed across the subsequent four novels. The Duke's grief for Glencora, his understanding of her political role, and his recognition of her wisdom that he lacked are all available in the text without the earlier novels — but knowing Glencora from Can You Forgive Her? (her near-elopement, her frustrated political energy, her transformation from unhappy heiress to great Duchess) gives the grief its full weight. The novel can be read as a standalone, but the sequence-reader's experience is qualitatively different.

Question 2

What is the restored 'Duke's Children' text?

Accepted Answer

Trollope cut approximately 65,000 words from the original manuscript of The Duke's Children to bring it within the length limits of All the Year Round, the magazine that was to publish it. The cuts were extensive and affected characterization, subplots, and the development of the romantic plots. The manuscript with all cuts marked was discovered and the restored text published by the Folio Society in 2015, and subsequently in other editions. Most critics who have compared the two versions find the restored text significantly richer — particularly in its treatment of the American Isabel Boncassen and in the Duke's inner life. Readers who want the fullest version of the novel should seek out the restored text.

Question 3

Is Isabel Boncassen, the American, a convincing character?

Accepted Answer

Isabel Boncassen is one of Trollope's best female characters and one of the most interesting portraits of an American woman in Victorian fiction — witty, confident, entirely without the social insecurity or social calculation of her English counterparts, and genuinely in love with Lord Silverbridge for himself rather than for his position. She is the novel's most fully drawn character and Trollope's most sympathetic treatment of American social values, which he elsewhere (in The Way We Live Now) found much more troubling. Her confrontation with the Duke — in which she offers to give up Silverbridge if the Duke wishes it, while making clear that she is doing so as a choice rather than as a concession — is the scene that most clearly defines her character.

Question 4

How does The Duke's Children end the Palliser sequence?

Accepted Answer

The novel resolves the Duke's arc from proud aristocrat to humbler father — his eventual acceptance of his children's choices represents his most significant character development in the sequence. Silverbridge and Isabel marry; Lady Mary and Frank Tregear marry after Tregear has established himself sufficiently to meet the Duke's requirements. Lord Gerald Palliser's subplot is also resolved. The Duke himself is left alone but at peace — he has learned from Glencora's spirit, been educated by his children's freedom, and reached a point of acceptance that the earlier, stiffer Palliser could not have achieved. It is the most satisfying ending in the sequence and one of the most emotionally intelligent endings in Trollope's entire output.

The Duke's Children Reading Order

Complete Duke's Children Book List