He Knew He Was Right

By: Anthony Trollope

Narrated by: Nigel Patterson

Length: 30 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

When Louis Trevelyan's young wife meets an old family acquaintance, his unreasonable jealousy of their friendship sparks a quarrel that leads to a brutal and tragic estrangement.

Often considered to be his masterpiece, Anthony Trollope's 1869 novel explores the themes of marriage, love, and the rights of women in 19th-century England.

With a cast of independent, forceful characters and lively subplots, Trollope creates a penetrating and often comic dissection of the mores of Victorian society.

Public Domain (P)2016 Nigel Patterson

real life

I enjoy Trollope ' s storytelling style. Complex characters and always a mix between tragedy and a happy ending.
Well made recording. Very enjoyable.

Trollope delivers again

I like Trollope stories for their ability to give me many different stories rolled into one. This one delivers that as usual. An argument between two fools who never learned to communicate becomes tedious however. Neither one willing to give an inch leads to a tragic and completely predictable outcome. Thank god for the other stories woven into this book because they are what kept me reading. I honestly couldn’t care less about Louis and his wife after a few hours. That kind of pigheadedness has no redemptive qualities. Nigel Patterson does a fair job of narrating, but he’s no Timothy West.

Sympathy for human dilemma

Most of his books delve deeply
into the relationship between
men and women often exploring
laws attitudes passions beliefs
literally tearing people apart

Wonderful Old England

I enjoy any thing Old England, from where my ancestors all came, and Trollope does it best! This book is long but the better by which I can knit, crochet, clean .....

A lovely book

I enjoyed the telling of the various families. Although it was very boring at points, overall a nice story.
Narrator is, as always, wonderful. Always enjoying hearing his voice

Clever, Amusing and Witty

I confess that I like to get my money's worth from Audible (at least every other book) and, although some of Trollope's tomes have obvious padding, this one did not so much. To weave so many stories so well, with such insight and wit was impressive and very entertaining. The narration was,for the most part, excellent, failing only slightly to render the American dialect believable. This improved as the book progressed, however, which helped.[ I just wish the narrator would not represent same by dropping his timbre into a male range when relating American women.]

A great feminist novel

I'm so glad I delved into this - seemingly - little known Trollope treasure. Such a modern book for its time. Despite reaching a climax in the story several times with the same unfortunate resolution, the power of the writing sustains. Excellent narration from Nigel Patterson.

A masterwork by a master

This is one of Trollope's best known novels, and for good reason (even though he supposedly considered it a failure). A powerful and tragic story of a marriage gone off the rails. My only complaint is of the narrator's dreadful attempt at an American accent for the American characters.

A husband drives himself mad with jealousy

Making the subject of a character's psychology the subject of the novel represents an unusual approach for Trollope. In He Knew He Was Right the husband deludes himself into the certainty that his wife has betrayed him and he gradually slides into a devouring delusion that destroys his marriage, his life's normality, his body and, ultimately, his sanity. The husband's jealousy is baseless, but understandable. Trivialities are blown out of proportion by the husband's suspicion on and his wife's outraged dignity. He [or She] Knew He [She] Was Right is the awful knell that drives so many people over the edge. Trollope effectively presents the seeming logic of the sundered couple, each of whom feels certain of his/her righteous position. Over and over again, neither husband nor wife can make the ultimate sacrifice and admit herself/himself wrong. The situation is torture, painfully depicted by Trollope. The emotional and psychological tug of war goes through many permutations until all reason is gone. In the end, Trollope cleverly lets us understand that both husband and wife have carried off his/her own conflicting and cherished delusion as confirmed belief.

Engrossing story and excellent narration

The beginning was a little slow and felt repetitive, but as the story went on I realized this was important to understanding some of the major characters. What struck me most is that not much has changed in 150 years, in terms of a family's quandaries in trying to manage a loved one suffering from mental illness. There are several overlapping plot lines, and the characters evolved and changed over time and circumstance.