Tuesday, January 31, 2017

An Invitation to the #PalliserParty


Audrey and I are throwing a #PalliserParty and you're invited! We had so much fun reading Anthony Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire in 2015 that we decided to give the Pallisers a try... and Audrey even created a badge to make us official!

Like the Chronicles of Barsetshire, there are six novels in the Palliser series. Unlike the ecclesiastical leaning of the #6Barsets, the Pallisers are sometimes referred to as Trollope's Parliamentary Novels.
The common threads throughout the series are the wealthy aristocrat and politician Plantagenet Palliser, and his wife, Lady Glencora. The plots involve British and Irish politics in varying degrees, specifically in and around Parliament. The Pallisers do not always play major roles, and in The Eustace Diamonds they merely comment on the main action.
The Palliser novels include:

Can You Forgive Her? (1864)
Phineas Finn (1869)
The Eustace Diamonds (1873)
Phineas Redux (1874)
The Prime Minister (1876)
The Duke's Children (1879)

With #6Barsets we read one book every two months, but plan to keep it even more flexible with this series. There will be no formal check-ins or discussion questions. We simply chat on twitter using the hashtag #PalliserParty as we read.

As a little teaser, here is the first paragraph of Can You Forgive Her?
The goodreads summary is here.




VOLUME I.

CHAPTER I.

Mr. Vavasor and His Daughter.
 Whether or no, she, whom you are to forgive, if you can, did or did not belong to the Upper Ten Thousand of this our English world, I am not prepared to say with any strength of affirmation. By blood she was connected with big people,—distantly connected with some very big people indeed, people who belonged to the Upper Ten Hundred if there be any such division; but of these very big relations she had known and seen little, and they had cared as little for her. Her grandfather, Squire Vavasor of Vavasor Hall, in Westmoreland, was a country gentleman, possessing some thousand a year at the outside, and he therefore never came up to London, and had no ambition to have himself numbered as one in any exclusive set. A hot-headed, ignorant, honest old gentleman, he lived ever at Vavasor Hall, declaring to any who would listen to him, that the country was going to the mischief, and congratulating himself that at any rate, in his county, parliamentary reform had been powerless to alter the old political arrangements. Alice Vavasor, whose offence against the world I am to tell you, and if possible to excuse, was the daughter of his younger son; and as her father, John Vavasor, had done nothing to raise the family name to eminence, Alice could not lay claim to any high position from her birth as a Vavasor. John Vavasor had come up to London early in life as a barrister, and had failed. He had failed at least in attaining either much wealth or much repute, though he had succeeded in earning, or perhaps I might better say, in obtaining, a livelihood. He had married a lady somewhat older than himself, who was in possession of four hundred a year, and who was related to those big people to whom I have alluded. Who these were and the special nature of the relationship, I shall be called upon to explain hereafter, but at present it will suffice to say that Alice Macleod gave great offence to all her friends by her marriage. She did not, however, give them much time for the indulgence of their anger. Having given birth to a daughter within twelve months of her marriage, she died, leaving in abeyance that question as to whether the fault of her marriage should or should not be pardoned by her family.
Would you like to attend our #PalliserParty?

SaveSave

25 comments:

  1. Thank you for sending out this lovely invitation!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Audrey - So happy to finally get started. I've missed Trollope!

      Delete
  2. Can You Forgive Her? was the first Trollope I fell in love with a couple of years ago, and I raced through the other Palliser novels. It's too soon for me to re-read, but I shall look on with great interest.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jane - I just read your review on goodreads and am even more excited to finally start this project!

      Delete
  3. I have the two final Pallisers left to read this year! I'm about halfway through The Claverings but hope to get to The Prime Minister and The Duke's Children soon. I'll be following along as well until you get to those novels.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Karen K. - Maybe our paths will cross at the end of the series!

      Delete
  4. I adore the Barset novels and now want to join your Palliser party. I will shop for "Can You Forgive Her?". It sounds like all the chatting for your party will be on twitter with the hashtag; when will it start? I am a member of the great group on Facebook, Anthony Trollope Society.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Terra -I just loved the Barsetshire novels, too... probably my best reading experience ever! If you use an ereader, there is a free kindle version available.I'm a member of the Trollope group on Facebook, too :)

      Delete
    2. Terra - PS. I started reading yesterday and using the hashtag today.

      Delete
  5. What fun! I remember the Barsetshire books and I really enjoyed the reviews and discussion on them. This sounds really different but just as enjoyable!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Katherine - I loved every single page of the Barsetshire novels... hoping for much of the same with the Pallisers.

      Delete
  6. I love the Palliser novels. A reread of Can You Forgive Her? Sounds great. And some day I'm going to read He Knew He Was Right....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lisa - So happy you're considering a reread! Eventually I would love to read all of Trollope.

      Delete
  7. I am in the middle of Phineas Finn right now.


    I loved Can You Forgive Her and I look forward to your upcoming commentary.

    As I have commented before, we seem to be on parallel Trollope tracks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brain Joseph - Indeed we are on similar Trollope paths! I've been listening to Can You Forgive Her? on my walks this week and am enjoying it very much... so good to return to Trollope!

      Delete
  8. Yes! I'm in the middle of reading the Palliser novels now. I've just started Phineas Redux. This sounds fun. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Patience_Crabstick - Even though the story is different, Can You Forgive Her? feels like a visit with an old friend. Hope I can catch up to you!

      Delete
  9. What a fun readalong! I probably won't be able to join in but hope you have a lot of fun and looking forward to hearing about the reads!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Iliana - We had such great time reading Barsetshire, I can't imagine anything less for the Pallisers... even if it is centered around politics ;-)

      Delete
  10. I've not yet read a Trollope! Can you imagine? I have a few on the shelf. I watched the BBC show The Pallisers several years ago and loved it. I shouldn't watch the shows until I've read the books though. I really liked Glencora. I doubt I'll join in but have a good time!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Peggy Ann - I'll certainly watch the BBC series when I'm done reading. About a third of the way into the book now and enjoying it so much! I wonder what Glencora's fate will be... or if it will even be settled by the end of the book. Trollope has become a favorite author :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I did get the book out from the library but I'm still racing to get through all the TOB books before March 8. In fact, I just checked and my copy for this is already overdue - I sadly didn't even crack the spine! #somedayIwillreadTrollope

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Care - ... and I'm hoping you will love him when you do! :-)

      Delete
  13. Stumbles on this blog. Just finished Phineas Redux and can't get past him marrying Madame Max Goesler! So hoping for Lady Laura...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. eross - I also recently finished Phineas Redux and hope we hear more about him (and the marriage to Madame Max) in the final two novels. Didn't expect he would marry Lady Laura... their relationship had changed so much over the years. Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! Be sure to check back, I always respond. Due to a recent increase in spam, all comments are moderated.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails