Sometime in the mid nineteenth century, duty calls for the Duke of Omnium, formerly Plantagenet Palliser MP, ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer. Parliament is balanced and no-one can muster enough support in The Commons to form a government. But government must go on, and the inoffensive Duke of Omnium, now in The Lords, is persuaded to lead a coalition, manned (and they are all men) by those prepared to put the national interest first, while of course landing plum jobs.
The Duke may be uneasy in his new role, but his wife, Lady Glencora, is in her element. They are a fabulously rich couple, and Lady Glen is determined that their time in the spotlight will be memorable, for lavish hospitality if nothing else. That creates marital tension with the Duke who likes a quiet life and sees his elevation as purely temporary.
Speaking of marital tension, disconnected from the high life, Emily Wharton, daughter of a well-off solicitor, rejects her long-time suitor and falls for a handsome chancer, Ferdinand Lopez. Her father objects, the name alone hits alarm bells. Despite Lopez being English, of good manners, reputably well connected, and comfortably off, Mr Wharton objects. He maintains Lopez cannot be considered an English Gentleman (unlike his rejected rival) and labels him in terms that now would be considered racist. However, the daughter gets her way, marries in haste, and inevitably repents at leisure.
The link between the two storylines is tenuous - Lopez and his old rival for Emily both stand for the parliamentary seat at Silverbridge, in the Duke of Omnium’s domain, and Lady glen gets her interfering fingers involved – but each strand makes for a good novel of human relations, told by a master of that art.
It is a long and leisurely read, good for a
chapter a night in bed before lights out; and at that rate it took the best
part of three months to complete.
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