The Eustace Diamonds

What It's About

Lizzie Eustace is a beautiful, calculating young widow who inherits a diamond necklace worth ten thousand pounds from her late husband, Sir Florian Eustace. When the family lawyer insists the diamonds are a Eustace heirloom that must be returned to the estate rather than hers to keep, Lizzie refuses to give them up, and clings to the story that they were a personal gift. Her stubbornness, and the lies she tells to support it, draw in a cast of suitors, relatives, and legal men, and set off a chain of scandal, gossip, and deception that ripples through her social circle.

Key Concepts

The novel is as much a character study as a plot-driven tale, using the dispute over the necklace to examine lying and self-deception, the precarious financial and social position of women in Victorian marriage, and the vanity and hypocrisy of the aristocracy and legal establishment. It is the third of Trollope's Palliser novels, though the Pallisers themselves appear only in supporting roles, with the focus firmly on Lizzie and those orbiting her.

About the Author

Anthony Trollope (1815–1882) was an English novelist of the Victorian era, admired for his shrewd, often satirical observation of social and political life. He worked for many years at the British Post Office alongside his writing career, and is popularly credited with introducing the pillar box for posting letters.