Rating: 
Summary: Not enough fizz
Review: Somehow, this novel seemed a bit flat to me. It needed an injection of fizz. This was the second novel of Trollope's that I read, and I thought that the characters in "The Spanish Lover" were not as fleshed-out nor as believable as those in "Marrying the Mistress."Or perhaps I just should not have read two of Trollope's books in a row. Maybe I expected too much of this book. The author uses the device of grownup twin sisters to compare and contrast their lives. The two women, Frances and Lizzie, are very different. When Frances takes a married Spanish lover, the book becomes not just the story of her romance, but the story of how Lizzie deals with it, and what happens to her life as a result of her twin's affair. The ending was a bit too pat and predictable, but all in all, the novel was fairly enjoyable and quickly read.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining light reading
Review: The plot device of writing about two very different twin sisters was Trollope's way of contrasting differing ideas of femininity. Frances and Lizzie are quite distinct. Their lives carry you along, but the plot at times borders on the unbelievable. Some of the events were a bit contrived (the near dissolution of the 'perfect' marriage) and the end of the plot was predictable. It was the kind of entertaining reading for a weekend away, or when you don't want to tax yourself too much.
Rating: 
Summary: Twin sisters' lives come untwined then intersect again.
Review: This lushly written novel presents the choices women face through the device of twins whose lives have taken different turns. Lizzie, a domestic goddess who presides over a rambling house and manages four unruly children, also (with her husband, Robert) runs a gallery/shop whose offerings are in exquisite taste. Frances, the more retiring twin, is a loner who discovers sexual passion with a dapper, middle-aged Spaniard who reciprocates her ardor. From the point of view of this novel's oh-so-English characters, this is an affair of epic proportions, and it sweeps them all up in its headlong course.
Although Frances is the more interesting, risk-taking twin, this is at heart the story of how Lizzie comes to terms with her sister's liberation and achieves a hard-won freedom herself. The twins' mother, Barbara, also strikes out on her own, leaving her husband to find his own way of coping. Unlike the characters in some women's fiction, the men here are endearing but not romanticized. The ending is a bit pat (endings are difficult), but this novel contains much to enjoy, not least the Spanish vignettes, along with insights to think back upon.
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