The Claverings cover art

The Claverings

 Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £26.99

Buy Now for £26.99

About this listen

At the opening of The Claverings (1866) the beautiful Julia Brabazon jilts her lover Harry Clavering in order to make a marriage of convenience with a wealthy but dissolute earl. Harry licks his wounds, leaves London to train as a civil engineer, and falls in love with his employer's daughter, to whom he soon becomes engaged. But when Julia returns unexpectedly as a wealthy widow, the flame of Harry's old love is rekindled.

In his depiction of this quintessential love triangle, Anthony Trollope digs deep into the psychological make-up of a wonderful array of flawed characters: emotionally strong, determined women whose only prospects depend on making an advantageous marriage; a weak-willed, vacillating anti-hero who in a moment of weakness makes an impossible promise; and a memorable cast of secondary characters, from a suspected Russian spy and a feckless gambler to a zealous evangelical clergyman.

Public Domain (P)2018 Nigel Patterson Classics Drama & Plays European World Literature
All stars
Most relevant
On the second time of reading this book, I have really appreciated Trollope's humour. Sophie Goldalu is a wonderful character, brought to life by the narrator, and Archie Clavering is an endearing cousin of Bertie Wooster. Trollope takes the old story of a love triangle and uses it to contrast the monied and working classes, and show how it is women that often drive family affairs. A thoroughly enjoyable novel. It's a shame the narration, Ms Goldalu apart, is a little stilted, especially in the early chapters.

Lots to enjoy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I do love the way his stories always deposit the worthy characters in justified bliss and dispose of the evil ones in well-deserved ordure. The journey is always very satisfying. The narrator for this one was adequate but there was little distinction between some of the ‘voices’ at times, and clearly the upper crust voices were a challenge that sometimes didn’t quite convince, which was a teeny bit distracting.

Another satisfying Trollope

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
enjoyable, good narration except for the voice of Sophi, I found that s little odd almost amusing. fantastic story.

very good

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The performance is pretty good - different characters but some wrong emphases..
The book itself has major flaws. Spoiler alert - an upper class girl with no money refuses to marry a young man she loves because they have no income. He is immature, a bit idle and completely unrealistic too. She later makes a marriage for money. This is supposed to be unwomanly on her part - but what was she supposed to do? Trollope punishes her for life and rewards the young man, who unexpectedly inherits a fortune and after some dithering marries a middle class girl who adores him suitably. An obsessively religious curate who glories in being poor also is suddenly made marriageable. It's all a bit silly. I enjoyed it anyway.

Not Trollope's best, but still good

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great Tollop story could not put it down and beautifully narrated by Nigel Patterson

Great story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews