Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Can You Forgive Her? cover art

Can You Forgive Her?

By: Anthony Trollope
Narrated by: Timothy West
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £23.99

Buy Now for £23.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

He Knew He Was Right cover art
The Warden cover art
The Kellys and the O'Kellys cover art
The Claverings cover art
The Vicar of Bullhampton cover art
The Three Clerks cover art
The Way We Live Now cover art
The Pallisers cover art
The American Senator cover art
The Complete Barchester Chronicles cover art
Is He Popenjoy? cover art
Middlemarch cover art
The Barchester Chronicles cover art
The Pickwick Papers: Dickens on Dickens cover art
The Making of a Marchioness cover art
Into the Wilderness cover art

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.

What listeners say about Can You Forgive Her?

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    639
  • 4 Stars
    172
  • 3 Stars
    37
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    7
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    640
  • 4 Stars
    61
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    477
  • 4 Stars
    177
  • 3 Stars
    49
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!

Gloomily, I searched yet again (probably for the 20th time) to see if audible.co.uk had got this title and they have now!!! Trollope is my favourite male author and Timothy West is my favourite reader of his work, ably bringing to life the many personalities in Trollope's novels.

As stated in the description, this is the first of the political Palliser Books but the insights of his era are just as pertinent today as is his insightful portrayal of his characters' motives and behaviour in their personal lives. Listeners will be introduced to (and come to fall in love with Glencora and Plantagenet Palliser - the focal persons in the series); will relish the cynicism of the Duke of Omnium and Glencora's snobbish relatives; and come to actively hate the villian of this novel! And that's just for starters. These novels predate the formal study of psychology but are expert little gems of analysis that can well stand repeated readings/listenings with fresh points to ponder coming out each time.

So if you like good involved plots well delineated, you are in safe hands with this author and reader combination and are in for a long-lasting treat!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

67 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Gloriously comforting

Twenty hours! I think the great beauty of this audio-book lies in its bulk- and the knowledge that the rest of the Pallisers- each equally bulky- can follow behind it- like a warm ocean of Trollope stretching out with no further shore in sight.

It's a sort of gentle relief from boredom on an epic scale- and Timothy West's voice assures us that it will all be very moderate, very reasonable, very English... and there is no need at all to hurry...

I listened to it in about a week, while lambing sheep, as a kind of backround music.

In the whole thing only one mistake springs to mind- He pronounced 'Shoreditch' once with too much emphasis on the last syllable. And the pauses between chapters are too long.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

47 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Can you forgive her?

I am very familiar with the Trollope books and have just loved this. It is so well done and the humour so much more effective than reading it - no doubt due to the acting skills of Timothy West. I have listened to nearly all the Trollope novels now and Timothy West deserves so much praise. A very enjoyable experience

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Trollope and Timothy West: the perfect partnership

This is not my favourite Palliser novel: I find the story of the "her" whom we are to forgive or not, to be not one of Trollope's best. But it introduces Glencora and her story, and best of all, here is Timothy West yet again making Trollope even better than you thought. Trollope is an interfering author so the reader has to become Trollope as well as the characters. I'd like to know Timothy West's Trollope. So - five stars as usual.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderfull and moving

Being a native dane, Classic english litterature for me have been Austen and Shakespeare. But Audible and Timothy West have introduced med to Anthony Trollope and I am hooked. This book in particular has moved me. Moved me to tears. Trollope has a fine and allso great understanding of human caracter, and Timothy West has a great understanding of Trollope.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding

I had read about 300 pages of the paperback but was struggling. Determined not to give in so easily on my first Trolllope book I tried this audio version. Truly wonderful experience. Previous reviewers are quite right- Timothy West reads Trolllope so wonderfully well these are hard to put down. Truly wonderful and I do hope more of the Palliser series are to follow!!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

I never wanted it to end

Another wonderful reading of a great Trollope novel by Timothy West, who captures every nuance of style,character,humour and pathos. Please read the rest of the series Mr West!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Another excellent narration by Timothy West

Another wonderful narration of Trollope by Timothy West. An absolute joy to listen to. The characters are brought to life brilliantly and I became completely immersed in the story, which is still as relevant today as it was when it was written.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

my first experience of Trollope, Wonderful !

Would you listen to Can You Forgive Her? again? Why?

This first class book shows a great understanding of human nature and and the conditions and expectations of women at that time. Timothy West does a marvellous job of reading and bringing the characters to life. They way Trollope interrupts his own narrative to pose a question or make a comment is delightful. I love it. It may be the first for me but it certainly wont be the last.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Can I Forgive Her? (I'm Very Unforgiving!)

What made the experience of listening to Can You Forgive Her? the most enjoyable?

Timothy West really is a genius at reading Trollope. He is utterly perfect for it and I wish I'd found his versions of Trollope's years ago.

His characterizations of the characters are wonderful. I particularly love his Mr Cheese-Acre which is beyond delicious! I do think that Charlie Fairstairs and Mr Cheese-Acre rather deserve each other (not to give anything away!) but perhaps that is because I'm rather a mean-spirited person at times!

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

Can You Forgive Her is not a book which easily compares to any others by other writers - I suppose in a way it has some Thackeray moments but Trollope does them so much better that I would ask "why bother with Thackeray!"

Have you listened to any of Timothy West’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I've listened to a few of West's Trollope performances and ALL, without exception so far, are beyond glorious.

Any additional comments?

This book is delightful. It's the first of the Palliser series and gives a very good introduction to both Trollope as a writer and the Palliser series (I read them a little the wrong way round but reading Trollope's books out of order works fine if you can get your head around characters becoming older rather than younger!)

Lady Glencora (whom I loved with a passion in Phineas Redux) is shown here in all her spoilt, childish and silly glory but, underneath all of that, there is always a warmth to Trollope's characters which somehow redeems even the worst of them!

As to whether or not I can forgive Alice Vavasor - I'm not sure. I found her quite irritatingly annoying at times but was gripped to discover what catastrophe she would walk herself into next! I think her pride is what really creates her downfall (if you think there IS a downfall) and her somewhat permanent and fixed inability to recognize that is irksome at times!

However, as always with Trollope, this is a beautifully 'drawn' book. The characters really do develop faces in your head as you read/hear them read. You can imagine the smells, the costumes, the flouncing out of the rooms, the pained grimaces of the long-suffering (and slightly dim at times!) Planty Pall and the exaltations of Lady Glencora when she feels she has gotten the better of him - I always imagine her sitting hugging her knees with delight at first and then, the slow and dawning realization that she has, once again, behaved appallingly falls upon her and she sits shame-faced like a child sulking, until she finally resolves to create another crisis to divert attention!

In all, this is a book I would more than highly recommend. It truly is Trollope at his best and, if ever Trollope could have chosen someone to voice his words, I can't help but feel sure that he would have chosen Timothy West.

Bravo to both Trollope and West for this fantastic romp!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful