THE EUSTACE DIAMONDS

Narrator David Shaw-Parker continues his marvelous tour of Trollope with this audiobook from the Palliser novels. Although the Pallisers are minor characters in this volume, we do get Shaw-Parker's memorable portrayal of the Duke of Omnium, as well as Lady Eustace's almost-but-not-quite-incomprehensible rural Scottish steward, Andy Gowran. Without doing full impersonations, this narrator uses intonation and accents--and his accents are masterly--to distinguish and portray the characters. Trollope was a man of his time, so there is an unfortunate anti-Semitic undertone to the audiobook, but the main story is about women in Victorian England and how they deal with the limitations of their social roles. There are also some interesting resonances with Thackeray's VANITY FAIR. D.M.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2018]