Can You Forgive Her?

In Short

First published in twenty monthly parts between 1864 and 1865, Can You Forgive Her? launches Anthony Trollope’s celebrated Palliser series. The novel centers on three women navigating the suffocating romantic and financial choices permitted to Victorian women. Alice Vavasor, a headstrong London heiress, rejects the high-minded John Grey to reunite with her wild, dangerously ambitious cousin George. Meanwhile, her wealthy cousin Lady Glencora MacCluskie is married off to the stiff, rising politician Plantagenet Palliser while still pining for the handsome, worthless Burgo Fitzgerald. In a comic counterpoint, their widowed Aunt Greenow skillfully plays two rustic suitors against each other for her jointure. As George’s political schemes crumble into violence and Glencora teeters on the brink of elopement, the characters are forced to choose between romantic ruin and quiet, duty-bound respectability. The novel endures for its clear-eyed psychological realism, its sharp political background, and its refusal to simplify the complex motives behind human error.

The Story

Alice Vavasor is an independent, intellectually restless young woman living in London. Engaged to John Grey—a wealthy, flawless squire who lives a quiet life of scholarly ease at his Cambridgeshire estate, Nethercoats—Alice finds herself paralyzed by the very perfection of her choice. Haunted by the feeling that a woman’s life ought to consist of something more ambitious than suburban domestic tranquility, she hesitates to name a wedding day. Against the advice of her worldly father, her conservative aunt Lady Macleod, and her aristocratic connections, Alice breaks her engagement to Grey.

She turns her thoughts back to her cousin, George Vavasor, a fiery, unscrupulous stockbroker and former wine merchant to whom she was once engaged. Encouraged by George’s sister, Kate Vavasor—Alice’s closest friend and a fierce champion of her brother’s fortunes—Alice convinces herself that by marrying George she can fuel a noble political career. George is determined to win a seat in Parliament representing the Chelsea districts, but he lacks the fortune to sustain his campaign. When his grandfather, the old Squire of Vavasor Hall, refuses to fund his political ambitions, George turns to Alice for money. Loving him less out of passion than out of a misplaced sense of duty and a desire for purpose, Alice yields to his demands, signing bills for thousands of pounds to finance his election.

Running parallel to Alice’s struggle is the story of her cousin, Lady Glencora MacCluskie, an immensely wealthy heiress who has been forced by her powerful family to marry Plantagenet Palliser, the heir to the Dukedom of Omnium. Plantagenet is an honest, tireless politician consumed by public business and the intricacies of the sugar duties, leaving his spirited, reckless young wife starved for affection. Glencora remains desperately in love with Burgo Fitzgerald, a penniless, beautiful spendthrift who schemes to run off with her for her money. During a house party at Matching Priory, Alice observes the deep rift in the Palliser marriage, as Glencora openly chafes against the surveillance of Palliser’s political sycophants, Mr. Bott and Mrs. Marsham. At a glittering London ball given by Lady Monk, Burgo corners Glencora and begs her to elope with him. She nearly consents, but Palliser, alerted to the danger and displaying unexpected tenderness and magnanimity, intervenes. Realizing his wife’s profound unhappiness, Palliser sacrifices his immediate ambition of becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer to take Glencora on an extended tour of the Continent, inviting Alice to join them.

While these aristocratic and urban dramas unfold, Alice’s aunt, the cheerful widow Mrs. Greenow, conducts a shrewd romantic battle in Norfolk and Westmoreland. Wealthy and entirely self-possessed, she openly enjoys the attentions of two suitors: Mr. Cheesacre, a prosperous, boastful farmer who plies her with baskets of cream and young turkeys, and Captain Bellfield, a penniless, charming officer. Mrs. Greenow expertly manages both men, enjoying their absurd rivalries before ultimately choosing Bellfield, confident that she can control him and enjoy her wealth on her own terms.

In London, George Vavasor wins his election but loses his sanity as his financial demands escalate. When old Squire Vavasor dies, he disinherits George, leaving the estate in trust and making it impossible for George to seize the property. Realizing that Alice will not marry him immediately and that her money is slipping out of his reach, George’s veneer of gentility shatters. He treats his loyal sister Kate with brutal contempt and confronts John Grey, who has quietly paid off Alice’s debts behind her back to save her from ruin. Driven to despair, George breaks into Grey’s chambers with a pistol, demanding a duel. Grey calmly disarms the situation, refusing to fight, and George is forced to flee the country for America, ruined and disgraced.

Chastened by her cousin’s treachery and the near-destruction of her life, Alice comes to see the true worth of John Grey’s steadfast love. During the European tour, Palliser and Glencora achieve a genuine reconciliation, cemented by the news that Glencora is pregnant with a male heir. Grey follows Alice to Switzerland, where, with Glencora’s playful coaxing, Alice drops her pride and consents to marry him. The novel closes with a series of quiet triumphs: Alice and Grey are married at Matching Priory, Grey enters Parliament himself with Palliser’s encouragement, and the characters accept the subtle compromises that govern adult life.

How It Unfolds

A lingering engagement Alice Vavasor resists fixing a date for her wedding to John Grey, frustrating her elderly aunt Lady Macleod during her final visit to London. Though Alice insists Grey is not delaying, she privately shivers at the prospect of settling into a quiet, domestic life in Cambridgeshire without a greater purpose.

Moonlight on the Rhine During a tour through Switzerland with her cousins Kate and George Vavasor, Alice stands on a balcony at Basle looking over the rushing river. George speaks of lost chances and lingering regrets, reawakening Alice’s old romantic attachment to him and planting the seeds of her rupture with Grey.

Factions in Norfolk At a seaside picnic arranged near Yarmouth, the wealthy widow Mrs. Greenow presides over her two rival suitors, the landed farmer Mr. Cheesacre and the impoverished Captain Bellfield. While Cheesacre boasts of his crops and property, Bellfield charms the widow by helping her unpack hampers of cold chicken.

A desperate compromise Overcome by morbid doubts about her fitness to be a good wife, Alice breaks her engagement to John Grey and kneels before him in tears, begging his forgiveness. Grey refuses to accept her rejection as final, recognizing that a "melancholy fiend" has taken possession of her judgment.

Political ambitions financed George Vavasor visits Alice in London to discuss his campaign for the Chelsea parliamentary seat, skillfully playing on her desire for meaningful action. Recognizing that she admires his willingness to take risks, George secures her financial backing, eventually leading her to sign bills for thousands of pounds.

Tension at Matching Priory At the country estate of Plantagenet Palliser, political discussions about the budget clash with private marital strain. While Palliser lectures his cousin Jeffrey on the virtues of mercenary ambition and public service, his young wife Glencora feels stifled by the house's cold propriety and the constant scrutiny of political spies.

The battle of Chelsea George Vavasor’s election campaign turns filthy and violent as his agent Mr. Scruby matches tactics against the local publican Mr. Grimes. George is pelted with river mud and rotten eggs on the banks of the Thames, but he narrowly wins the seat, unaware that his campaign bills are being paid by John Grey.

Crisis at the ball At Lady Monk’s lavish London party, Burgo Fitzgerald approaches Lady Glencora and asks her to waltz, defying her stern duenna, Mrs. Marsham. Glencora takes Burgo's arm and dances, bringing her marriage to the edge of scandal before her husband steps in to remove her from danger.

Descent into violence Following his grandfather’s death and the revelation that Vavasor Hall has been left out of his control, George explodes in fury at the family lawyer. Desperate for money, he invades John Grey’s rooms with a loaded pistol, threatening murder if Grey will not fight a duel, but Grey refuses to be intimidated.

Reconciliation at Lucerne Having abandoned his political ambitions for the season to take Glencora abroad, Palliser enjoys a peaceful triumph in Switzerland as his wife’s health and loyalty are restored. Alice finally yields to Grey’s persistent devotion, agreeing to marry him and accept the quiet happiness she once rejected.

The People

• Alice Vavasor: A self-possessed, intellectual woman of twenty-four who craves a life of significance beyond ordinary domestic routines. What stands in her way is her own intellectual pride and a paralyzing fear of making an irrevocable mistake, which leads her to reject the noble John Grey for her dangerous cousin George. She ends up humbled, recognizing her error, and gratefully accepting Grey’s devotion.
• John Grey: A wealthy, highly educated country gentleman living at Nethercoats in Cambridgeshire. He desires Alice’s love above all else, and his steadfastness is tested by her rejection and her financial ruin at the hands of her cousin. Unshakably calm and magnanimous, he quietly pays off Alice’s debts, disarms her violent cousin, and eventually wins Alice as his wife.
• George Vavasor: Alice’s cousin, a hot-tempered stockbroker and politician driven by frantic ambition and chronic financial desperation. He seeks a seat in Parliament and Alice’s fortune to rescue himself from ruin, but his violent temper and lack of moral boundary destroy his prospects. Disinherited by his grandfather, he flees to America after failing to murder John Grey.
• Lady Glencora Palliser: A vibrant, immensely wealthy young heiress married to Plantagenet Palliser. Starved for warmth and bored by her husband’s political obsessive-compulsiveness, she longs for her ruined former lover, Burgo Fitzgerald. After nearly eloping, she is saved by her husband’s unexpected kindness and grows into a devoted, satisfied wife upon learning she is pregnant.
• Plantagenet Palliser: A conscientious, aristocratic politician whose life revolves around the House of Commons and financial policy. He wants to serve his country and maintain his family honor, but his cold, methodical manner initially alienates his young wife. When faced with losing her, he sacrifices his immediate cabinet ambitions to save his marriage, earning Glencora’s genuine respect.
• Kate Vavasor: George’s loyal sister and Alice’s close friend, who lives a lonely life in Westmoreland. She desires above all to see her brother succeed and rebuild the family name, driving her to facilitate the match between George and Alice. Her blind loyalty is rewarded with George’s verbal and physical abuse, leaving her heartbroken but wiser at Vavasor Hall.
• Mrs. Greenow: Alice’s wealthy, pragmatic aunt, a widow who expertly balances mock grief for her late husband with shrewd romantic management. She enjoys playing two suitors—Mr. Cheesacre and Captain Bellfield—against each other before marrying Bellfield on terms that protect her fortune.

In Its Own Voice

When Alice Vavasor struggles to explain why she cannot commit to marrying the man she respects above all others, she looks inwardly at her own morbid overthinking:

"Little bits of things make me do it;—perhaps a word that I said and ought not to have said ten years ago;—the most ordinary little mistakes, even my own past thoughts to myself about the merest trifles. They are always making me shiver."

In the high world of Westminster, Plantagenet Palliser defends the drive for material success to his impoverished cousin Jeffrey with the cool logic of an ambitious Victorian statesman:

"There is no vulgar error so vulgar,—that is to say, common or erroneous, as that by which men have been taught to say that mercenary tendencies are bad. A desire for wealth is the source of all progress. Civilization comes from what men call greed."

Meanwhile, among the Norfolk gentry, the wealthy farmer Mr. Cheesacre attempts to assert his social dominance over his impoverished rival, Captain Bellfield, over a bottle of brandy:

"If a man does intend to marry he ought to have things comfortable about him; unless he wants to live on his wife, which I look upon as about the meanest thing a man can do. By George, I'd sooner break stones than that."

What It's Really About

At its core, Can You Forgive Her? is an interrogation of female autonomy within the strict confines of 19th-century English society. The novel's provocative title poses a direct question to the reader: can we forgive a woman who rejects a good man simply because she wishes her life to have a broader scope than matrimony? Trollope examines how the lack of professional and political outlets for intelligent women like Alice Vavasor drives them toward misguided romantic crusade. Alice does not fall in love with George Vavasor so much as she falls in love with the idea of funding a career in Parliament, seeking a vicarious purpose through a man’s public life.

The book also contrasts political idealism with financial reality. Trollope exposes the mechanics of Victorian elections, showing how parliamentary seats are bought with cold cash, mud-slinging, and compromise rather than pure principle. Money touches every relationship in the novel: George needs Alice’s money to run for office; Cheesacre uses his farm's produce to woo Mrs. Greenow; Palliser's vast wealth isolates and nearly ruins his marriage. Beneath the glittering surface of London ballrooms and country house parties, Trollope argues that stability in marriage and politics requires not wild romantic passion, but mutual forbearance, honest accounting, and the courage to accept duty over impulse.

Why Read It Today

Can You Forgive Her? remains a startlingly modern study of self-sabotage and societal expectation. Readers who enjoy subtle psychological observation will find Alice Vavasor’s predicament painfully relatable: she is a woman who genuinely wants to do the right thing, yet her fear of settling for a quiet, conventional life drives her into the arms of a scoundrel. Trollope does not turn his characters into villains or saints; even the heroic John Grey can seem maddeningly smug, and the reckless Glencora is utterly irresistible in her flawed, spontaneous candor.

The novel offers an immersive portrait of Victorian life across all social strata. Trollope moves effortlessly from the tense political cloakrooms of the House of Commons to the windy fell-sides of Westmoreland, and from grand balls in Mayfair to sandy seaside picnics in Norfolk. His dialogue is exceptionally sharp, capturing the distinct voices of ambitious politicians, gossip-mongering duennas, and boisterous provincial farmers with equal precision.

Prospective readers should be prepared for a expansive, multi-plotted narrative that takes its time. The novel's broad scope requires patience, as Trollope balances three distinct courtship plots alongside detailed explanations of parliamentary procedure and agricultural life. Some modern readers may chafe at the period’s conservative gender attitudes, particularly the narrative’s insistence that female independence must ultimately yield to domestic submission. Yet the book’s extraordinary warmth, its humor, and its deep empathy for human frailty make it one of the most satisfying social novels in Victorian literature.