The Eustace Diamonds

Description

The Eustace Diamonds is one of the best novels by Anthony Trollope, a story that was published in 1871 and enjoys great popularity even nowadays. The third novel in Trollope’s Palliser series, the chapters of the novel published in the form of weekly series kept Trollope fans on the edge, waiting for the next installment of the story and this immense popularity brought about the publication of the novel in book form soon after the last chapter came out. The story centers on Lizzie Greystock, a woman who seduces the ailing Sir Florian Eustace and soon becomes a wealthy widow. The diamonds from the title are in a necklace left by Sir Florian to Lizzie to wear. Lizzie refuses to return the necklace to its lawful heirs after her husband’s death and lies to her late husband’s relatives about how she came into the possession of the jewel.

Lots of other characters are introduced, too – guests at Lizzie’s home, the lawyer of the Eustace family, Lizzie’s maid and her potential suitors. The diamonds disappear, first being hidden by Lizzie, then really stolen, the police being confused in the beginning, but gradually unraveling the mystery of the lost stones. She must confess everything eventually, but she is not punished, what’s more she even gets married to a foreign clergyman.

The story is complex to an extent that it sometimes becomes confusing, but it all becomes disentangled by the end. The best way to summarize what motivates the characters in the story is they are driven by human nature – nobody in the book is purely good or purely evil, everyone is flawed, but has good qualities as well. All these flaws and all these qualities generate lots of deeply human, sometimes funny, sometimes condemnable situations, but they also make for an exciting story full of detours and a partially satisfying solution at the end.
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