The Eustace Diamonds
Lizzie Eustace is one of the most deliciously infuriating heroines in Victorian fiction. A widow before thirty, she finds herself in possession of a diamond necklace worth a small fortune, which she claims her late husband gave her. The Eustace lawyers disagree. So does just about everyone else in London society, though they'll gladly attend her parties while they gossip about her. As one suitor demands she return the jewels as a condition of marriage and another riskily defends her claim, Lizzie discovers that maintaining a beautiful fiction requires increasingly exhausting effort. Trollope, at his satirical best, dissects a world where reputation is currency, where everyone pretends to believe lies, and where the truth becomes just another weapon in social warfare. The Eustace Diamonds is a devilishly smart comedy of manners that proves honesty was always optional in Victorian high society, it just depended on who was watching.
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“To have her meals, and her daily walk, and her fill of novels, and to be left alone, was all that she asked of the gods.””
— Anthony Trollope
“The persons whom you cannot care for in a novel, because they are so bad, are the very same that you so dearly love in your life, because they are so good.””
— Anthony Trollope
“I don't like anybody or anything," said Lucinda.Yes, you do;--you like horses to ride, and dresses to wear.””
— Anthony Trollope
“The old family carriage and the two lady's maids were there,--as necessaries of life; but London society was not within her reach. It was therefore the case that they had not heard very much about Lizzie Eustace. But they had heard something. "I hope she won't be too fond of going out," said Amelia, the second girl."Or extravagant," said Georgina, the third."There was some story of her being terribly in debt when she married Sir Florian Eustace," said Diana, the fourth."Frederic will be sure to see to that," said Augusta, the eldest."She is very beautiful," said Lydia, the fifth."And clever," said Cecilia, the sixth."Beauty and cleverness won't make a good wife," said Amelia, who was the wise one of the family."Frederic will be sure to see that she doesn't go wrong," said Augusta who was not wise.””
— Anthony Trollope
“There was very much in the whole affair of which he would not be proud as he led his bride to the altar;--but a man does not expect to get four thousand pounds a year for nothing.””
— Anthony Trollope
“True love, true friendship, true benevolence, true tenderness, were beautiful to her,”
— Anthony Trollope
“Lord Fawn did not immediately recognise the falseness of every word that the woman said to him, because he was slow and could not think and hear at the same time.””
— Anthony Trollope
“As man is never strong enough to take unmixed delight in good, so may we presume also that he cannot be quite so weak as to find perfect satisfaction in evil.””
— Anthony Trollope
“Everything about her room betokened wealth; but she had put away the French novels, and had placed a Bible on a little table, not quite hidden, behind her own seat.””
— Anthony Trollope
