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    Barchester Towers
    Barchester Towers
    Barchester Towers
    Ebook735 pages14 hours

    Barchester Towers

    By Anthony Trollope

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    According to Wikipedia: "Anthony Trollope ( 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882 ) became one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of Trollope's best-loved works, known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire; he also wrote penetrating novels on political, social, and gender issues and conflicts of his day. Trollope has always been a popular novelist. Noted fans have included Sir Alec Guinness (who never travelled without a Trollope novel), former British Prime Ministers Harold Macmillan and Sir John Major, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, American novelists Sue Grafton and Dominick Dunne and soap opera writer Harding Lemay. Trollope's literary reputation dipped somewhat during the last years of his life, but he regained the esteem of critics by the mid-twentieth century. "Of all novelists in any country, Trollope best understands the role of money. Compared with him even Balzac is a romantic." — W. H. Auden" The other novels in the Barsetshire series are: The Warden, Dr. Thorne, Framley Parsonage, The Small House at Allington, Last Chronicle of Barset."

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSeltzer Books
    Release dateMar 1, 2018
    ISBN9781455306596
    Author

    Anthony Trollope

    Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) was the third son of a barrister, who ruined his family by giving up the law for farming, and an industrious mother. After attending Winchester and Harrow, Trollope scraped into the General Post Office, London, in 1834, where he worked for seven years. In 1841 he was transferred to Ireland as a surveyor's clerk, and in 1844 married and settled at Clonmel. His first two novels were devoted to Irish life; his third, La Vendée, was historical. All were failures. After a distinguished career in the GPO, for which he invented the pillar box and travelled extensively abroad, Trollope resigned in 1867, earning his living from writing instead. He led an extensive social life, from which he drew material for his many social and political novels. The idea for The Warden (1855), the first of the six Barsetshire novels, came from a visit to Salisbury Close; with it came the characters whose fortunes were explored through the succeeding volumes, of which Doctor Thorne is the third.

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    Reviews for Barchester Towers

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    • 3/5
      I will be 100% honest. I couldn't get into Barchester Towers despite the fact it's supposed to be Trollope's most popular novel and many organizations have it on their "Top 1000 books to read." Yes, it is satirical and it has it humorous parts. I just couldn't get into any of the characters. I suspect my lack of enthusiasm centers around the fact the novel is focused on religion and the war between the high and low churches. The bishop has died and a new one needs to be appointed. There's a lot of infighting about how that will be resolved.The best element of Barchester Towers is the return of Septimus Harding. His daughter, Eleanor, is now a widow and eligible to remarry. The second best character was Mr. Stanhope, a member of the clergy. He has been in Italy for twelve years "recovering" from a sore throat and catching butterflies.
    • 4/5
      Loved this- small town politicking amongst the clergy of a cathedral town, with a romantic knot as the B story. Trollope sometimes leans a bit on the fourth wall, and his asides to the reader are great.

      There is a BBC adaptation of this and The Warden, titled "The Barchester Chronicles" from 1982- it's one of Alan Rickman's earliest roles, and he plays the seductively slimy Obadiah Slope so well!
    • 4/5
      Another delightful Victorian romp. A feud over a church appointment, a love story muddled by repressed emotions and silly misunderstandings and it all turns out nice in the end. Fantastic.
    • 3/5
      Barchester Towers is the 2nd in a series of 6 by Anthony Trollope. It, like The Warden is set in the fictional town of Barsetshire. This book is a serious satire on The Church of England as the much beloved bishop died and who is to take his place? This was much longer than The Warden and several times I had to lay it down and pick it up some days later. I think it is best taken in small doses. 791 pages 3 stars
    • 4/5
      Maybe I don't know enough about Church politics. I didn't really understand the references to the High Church. The Miniseries was very faithful to the book. I was glad Slope got a happy ending. I still didn't see why Eleanor was attracted to Mr. Arabin
    • 5/5
      It’s been over two hundred years since his death, but I’ve finally made acquaintances with Anthony Trollope. Happily, he was such a prolific author, I will have many opportunities to get to know him really well and I am pretty much ecstatic about the prospect. Barchester Towers was such a delight that I will be in for the long haul, reading through his oeuvre.In the second book in his Chronicles of Barsetshire series, the action picks up some five years after the conclusion of the previous book, The Wardenand many of the same characters appear. The inclusion of some new, rather dynamic characters adds tremendous interest and propels the action forward in unexpected ways.For the uninitiated, perhaps a little information about what Trollope’s themes involve in these first two books. Heavy doses of the differences between the High and Low church dominate the narrative, just as it raged at that time in the 1850s in England. I know what you’re thinking….could anything be more borrringgg? Well if that was all Trollope talked about, it certainly would not hold my, OK anyone’s, interest, for very long. Fortunately, he has created a cast of characters that is nothing short of brilliant: complex, fully fleshed, three-dimensional characters that provided the necessary fireworks when they interacted. For instance, take the thoroughly slimy Obadiah Slope (with a Dickensian name like that, you know right away he is beneath contempt). He’s new to the cathedral town, and brings with him new, and bleak ideas, that he tries to push on the locals through his role as chaplain to the (also new), henpecked and bullied Bishop Proudie, whose nagging wife has the kind of irritating personality that makes it so easy to imagine her as the true Bishop, rather then her diffident and easily intimidated husband. Everything of any consequence flows through her. There’s no going around this over-sized personality and the one time that Slope tries to, he discovers his powers are completely ineffective.Add to the mix the completely dysfunctional Stanhope family, recently forced back from a 12 year stint in Italy where Bishop Stanhope was recovering from a sore throat(!?). Mother, father and three adult children, they provide unending glimpses into the reasons why this family is in for a rude awakening at some point, as resources quickly diminish, and no one seems to want to figure out how to acquire, well, a living. Eldest daughter Charlotte manages the household and realizes she has the hopeless task of getting her indolent brother Bertie married to the lovely and wealthy widow Eleanor Bold and she goes about the task diligently. It’s not important to her whether or not her unmotivated but charming, brother has any interest in getting married. But Trollope created perhaps his most fascinating character when he created Charlotte and Bertie’s sister Signora Madeline Vesey Neroni. She’s left her abusive husband, responsible for her inability to walk, and returned home to live with her parents. She is fully aware of her beauty and flirts with any man who comes within striking distance of her couch, where she rules her world, leaving fawning men in the wake of her powerful personality. The fact that she feels the need to be carried around just adds to the mystique.The local high church members are no match for the flamboyance of the interlopers and make up the solid citizen brigade. They are, for the most part, warm, loving characters who struggle to understand what’s happening to their quiet little cathedral town. Trollope puts everyone together and stirs the pot and the proverbial sparks fly. There’s a love story, a comeuppance or three, misunderstandings galore, a good men are hard to find scenario…well you get the idea. And all told with ironic humor that often had me laughing out loud.”The features of Mrs. Stanhope’s character were even less plainly marked than those of her lord. The far niente of her Italian life had entered into her very soul, and brought her to regard a state of inactivity as the only earthly good. In manner and appearance she was exceedingly prepossessing…Her dress was always perfect: she never dressed but once a day, and never appeared till between three and four; but when she did appear, she appeared at her best. Whether the toil rested partly with her, or wholly with her handmaid, it is not for such a one as the author to even imagine….But when we have said that Mrs. Stanhope knew how to dress and used her knowledge daily, we have said all. Other purpose in life she had none.” (Page 91)As readers, we’ve steeled ourselves for the most gut-wrenching, depression-inducing, tear-jerking endings imaginable because modern fiction has led us to that expectation. But there’s much to be said for the good, old-fashioned, happy ending. It happens so seldom in my reading anymore that it takes me completely unawares when it does occur. I was happy to be reminded of the satisfaction that accompanies that development. Very highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      As good as The Warden in its portrayal of the different personalities at work within the community of Barchester and particularly within the factions of the Church.
    • 5/5
      I liked The Warden okay, but this is something else- a first rate comic novel in the tradition of Austen. But unlike Austen, Trollope's best moments come in the politics rather than in the romance. Everything you assume about each character is undermined: so and so looks like a knee jerk conservative, but ends up doing the most to further the cause of progress, and vice versa. Basically, it'd be good for anyone who thinks about politics to read this, and realize that individuals are far more important than parties.
      Also, all the great eccentric characters had me smirking and smiling on every page. Signora Neroni and her brother Bertie will surely live on as long as there's a way to read.
    • 4/5
      The death of the bishop of the fictional town of Barchester sets in motion a pitched battle of religion in this book by Anthony Trollope. One one side is the new bishop, his domineering wife, and his ambitious new chaplain, Mr. Slope. On the other side is practically every other member of the clergy in the town, from the dean, the archbishop, and the entire chapter. Entangled in the dispute is mild Mr. Harding, formerly warden of the Barchester hospital, providing bed and care for 12 worthy aged men. A scandal forces him from his position and threatens to split the town in half. Mr. Harding's widowed daughter Mrs. Bold is another focus of the story, this time providing the romance. With three eligible men seeking her hand - or is it her fortune - she remains oblivious until her hand is almost literally forced.I was surprised to find myself really enjoying this book. The beginning was rather rough, started as it does with solely ecclesiastical matters. I know nothing at all of the organization of the Anglican church and was bewildered by the politics involved. But once the personalities behind the offices began to emerge, I was really hooked. The style is rather old-fashioned, but not so much that I couldn't read it quickly. Highly recommended - lots of fun.
    • 5/5
      My husband told me it would be like a Susan Howatch novel "without the moral turpitude." Though skeptical at first, I did end up finding it quite delightful. If Victorian ecclesiastical soap opera sounds like your cup of tea, you might find it similarly worthwhile.
    • 5/5
      I’m officially a Chronicles of Barsetshire convert and I have Eleanor Bold to thank for it. The character took a stand for herself and her father in The Warden, but it wasn’t until Barchester Towers that I really grew to love the fiery widow. She could be Lizzie Bennet if Darcy had (God forbid!) died after they were married.Barchester Towers picks up a few years after The Warden. Eleanor has become a widow and now has a son. No one has taken over the wardenship that her father, Mr. Harding, left at the end of the first book. The race is on to see who will be named the new Warden and who will become the Dean in Barchester. We also meet a new cast of characters including the hapless Bertie Stanhope and his sister, the conniving Mr. Slope, the unhappily married Proudies and a vicar from Oxford, Francis Arabin.In that same Pride and Prejudice vein, Obadiah Slope is Mr. Collins. The Bishop's chaplain is working hard to move up in the world, but he is just not a likeable character. Even when Eleanor is attempting to be kind to him, she still can’t make herself like him. He bases his search for a wife on income instead of love and so he sets his sights on the newly widowed Eleanor who is now a wealthy woman. In order to woo her he attempts to get her father’s wardenship back for him. Poor Reverend Quiverful has already been offered the wardenship, which would go a long way to feeding his 14 children.Septimus Harding, the main character from The Warden, once again demonstrates his excellent character in this book. No matter what people offer him or what they tell him he deserves, in the end he always wants what is best for the community. He is such a kind man. Even when his daughter’s taste in gentlemen callers is being questioned, he makes his loyalties clear without yet knowing her thoughts. He stands by her and supports all of her actions. Eleanor’s relationship with her father is one of the highlights of the novel for me.The thing I'm beginning to realize I love about Trollope's work is his collection of female characters. He creates vibrant women who are the real strength behind the weak or petty men they are married to. Mrs. Proudie might be a bit of a villain, but she's also a force to be reckoned with. Everyone in Barchester knows that her husband, the Bishop, isn’t the real decision-maker in their household. As he struggles with the question of who should get the wardenship, she makes the decision and moves forward with her choice without him.Mrs. Quiverful does the same thing, but out of her concern for her children’s welfare. She sees her husband's unwillingness to fight for what she believes is rightfully theirs as weak and selfish. She decides to make her own plan and go about getting the wardenship for him.My favorite female character, of course, is Eleanor Bold. She turns down multiple suitors who are after her money. She stands up to her stuffed shirt brother-in-law, Archdeacon Grantly and remains loyal to her father above all. She is at times righteous, sarcastic, and vulnerable, a fully realized character with a complicated range of emotions. We watch her fall in love and we root for her to end up with the right man. I've grown to admire her for her strength and principles throughout the first two books. In The Warden she was willing to give up her love for her fiancé in order to protect her family dignity. In this book she stands up for her right to privacy and freedom when Grantly believes her acquaintance with Slope is inappropriate. She doesn’t love Slope, but she’s furious that someone thinks they have the right to tell her who she can or can't associate with.BOTTOM LINE: Just like The Warden, it took me a minute to get into this one, but once I did I loved it! Eleanor Bold is one of my favorite characters I’ve encountered in a long while. I hope she plays a role in the upcoming books as well!“How many shades there are between love and indifference, and how little the graduated scale is understood!”“Till we can become divine, we must be content to be human, lest in our hurry for change we sink to something lower.” 
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. Loved it, loved it, loved it! It made me laugh out loud and cry and was absolutely everything a book should be. While I enjoyed [The Warden] greatly [Barchester Towers], although dealing with many of the same characters and something of the same concerns, is even better.Old Bishop Grantly is dying, and his son the Archdeacon has every expectation of being appointed his successor. Every expectation that is, as long as the present government remains in place, but the present government looks more unsteady by the day. Eventually missing the appointment by a  matter of hours the disappointed Archdeacon must come to terms with serving a new bishop, and what is worse, a bishop who has low church tendencies which are an anathema to his high church leanings. And worse still, it is not only the bishop Mr Proudie that the Archdeacon must contend with, but with two other aspirants to power within the diocese: Mrs Proudie the bishop's wife, and Mr Slope, his ambitious personal chaplain. And so there follows a Machiavellian power struggle that would be worthy of any Rennaisance prince. The first meeting of the combatants in the bishop's study gives a taste of what is to come:'There were four persons there, each of whom considered himself the most important person in the diocese -himself, indeed, or herself, as Mrs Proudie was one of them -and with such a difference of opinion it was not probable that they would get on pleasantly together. The bishop himself wore the visible apron, and trusted mainly to that -to that and his title, both being facts which could not be overlooked. The archdeacon knew his subject and really understood the business of bishoping, which the others did not, and this was his strong ground. Mrs Proudie had her sex to back her, and her habit of command, and was nothing daunted by the high tone of Dr Grantly's face and figure. Mr Slope had only himself and his own courage and tact to depend on, but he nevertheless was perfectly self-assured, and did not doubt but that he should soon get the better of weak men who trusted so much to externals, as both bishop and archdeacon appeared to do.And the archdeacon's fury at the machinations of Mr Slope are compounded when it seems that a close connection of his is looking rather more favourably on him. Is Mr Harding's younger daughter Eleanor considering marriage with the hated enemy? Rather conveniently left a rich young widow with £1,000 a year following the early death of her husband John Bold, Eleanor can now be considered a great catch for an ambitious but impecunious young clergyman, or any other young gentleman with need of a steady income.Once again, the great strength of this book is not in the plot, but with the host of marvellous characters with which Trollope fills his pages. And not only in the main characters, the lesser characters can be equally delightful. The beautiful but crippled Signora Madeline Vesey Neroni, whose only delight is to snare men into her web as a spider might do, and her brother Bertie Stanhope who has failed at most careers (and religions) known to man, are both delightful. So I will be continuing with my Trollope experiences after just a very brief break to catch my breath!
    • 4/5
      The 2nd in Anthony Trollope's Barchester series, this Victorian novel revolves around the plotting and drama that occurs when the Bishop of Barchester dies and a successor must be chosen. Trollope subtly mocks the church system of Victorian England and presents a very readable (or listenable) social commentary of power and money struggles in the Church of England. I listened to the audiobook version narrated by the ever wonderful Simon Vance - fantastic!
    • 5/5
      I listened to this on audio and can't say enough about it. I adored it. I laughed hysterically in all the right places, I'm sure. There are many humorous corollaries with the Catholic church, which were perhaps not intended, but are there. Very interesting to hear about John Henry Newman in a novel, I must say!
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed this second installment of the Barchester Chronicles much more than the first, The Warden, even though many of the same characters (Mr. Harding and his daughters) continue the story. Trollope has a unique way of getting inside the minutiae of Victorian society and behavior, and he does so with both affection and humor. I'll definitely continue reading the series.
    • 5/5
      Loved every page of this beautifully written novel about the plotting and backstabbing that go on in an Anglican diocese in turmoil. So unlike the placid clergy of Austen's novels, Barchester's clerics are political animals, fervent in their ideas about the religious reforms of the day, and ambitious for the good life as well. Some unforgettable characters include the Rev. Obadiah Slope, Mrs. Bishop Proudie, and the Signora Neroni, each with a different agenda and the craft and cunning to see it through. I laughed out loud in places as I recognized some human foibles all too familiar today. I intend to follow up with the other Barchester novels in the series and look forward to hours of immersion in a time and place gone by yet still alive in the writings of a novelistic genius.
    • 5/5
      Written in the 1850's, this story is about the peccadilloes of the local clergy and their families. Power struggles ensue, a romance or several, or not, misunderstandings galore. I found the humor in this story to be even better than Jane Austen. Very enjoyable and a fun read, though for those not used to the writing style of the day, it may be hard to get into. I love the characters and the way they are developed and described. They live and breathe.
    • 1/5
      In stacks. I tried to read it, really I did, but it just didn't grab me. I'll try it again someday and will probably love it.
    • 5/5
      I’d read The Warden before Barchester Towers and thought it was a nice book, not really something that stuck with me, but a more or less good read. This one, however, is one of my all-time favorites. Went on to read the whole series, the Palliser series – now working on the others. The well-developed characters, mellifluous prose and Trollope’s good-natured sense of humor distinguish the second in the Barsetshire series.As in The Warden, the plot involves minor Anglican appointments in the town of Barchester. Familiar characters also turn up – Mr. Harding, the saintly ex-warden, his newly widowed daughter Eleanor and his son-in-law, the imperious archdeacon Dr. Grantly. After Dr. Grantly’s father the bishop dies, he expects the position but instead it goes to an outsider, Dr. Proudie. The appointment leads to a split in the town between Grantly and his conservative if somewhat indifferent High Churchmen and Proudie with the fervent evangelical Low Church faction. Actually, it isn’t Bishop Proudie – amiable and conflict-phobic – leading the charge, but his memorably bossy wife Mrs. Proudie and the great Mr. Slope – her slimy, hypocritical, hubris-filled chaplain. Of course, with two such strong-willed personalities, conflict is bound to arise. Romantic troubles plague Eleanor, courted by Slope, poor dandy Bertie Stanhope and Grantly adherent Mr. Arabin. But the plot isn’t the important thing in a Trollope novel – something he states in one of his comic asides – “And what can be the worth of that solicitude which a peep into the third volume can utterly dissipate? What the value of those literary charms which are absolutely destroyed by their enjoyment?” The author even goes so far as to inform readers of Eleanor’s choice in marriage at the beginning. Henry James disliked Trollope’s asides and his insertion of himself as the narrator, but that’s one of the best parts, especially to a fan of more-represented-later metafiction (not counting Tristram Shandy). Trollope’s smooth, comfortable prose and his comic take on mundane matters are what set apart his books. The author describes Slope and Grantly’s conflict as an epic war, gently mocking the militant stance immediately taken up. Signora Neroni, Bertie’s sister, provides more overt humor with her excessive love of drama and the fact that she has to be carried everywhere on her sofa. There’s a psychological depth to his characters, with each minute emotion described. His isn’t the inner monologues of Virginia Woolf or Henry James’ texture of consciousness or the clause-laden, exhaustively described, nuanced, run-on prose of Proust or even the complicated erudition of fellow Victorian George Eliot (all of which I like), but solid detailed descriptions that almost hide the skill in constructing them. For example, Mr. Harding’s ambivalence about Eleanor and Mr. Slope – he almost hates Slope and genuinely hoped the marriage would not go through, but recognized that there was nothing shameful socially in a union. To Grantly, he half-defended his daughter, wanting to believe she’d never consent to a marriage but trying to say it was appropriate in case it did happen. Similar anguish is endured by Eleanor, the Grantlys and Mr. Arabin as they attempt to talk civilly but avoid the mention of marriage. Trollope is remarkably effective in his sweet and sour thoughts of Eleanor gradually recovering from her husband’s death"How much kinder is God to us than we are willing to be to ourselves! At the loss of every dear face, at the last going of every well beloved one, we all doom ourselves to an eternity of sorrow, and look to waste ourselves away in an ever-running fountain of tears. How seldom does such grief endure! How blessed is the goodness which forbids it to do so! 'Let me ever remember my living friends, but forget them as soon as they are dead,' was the prayer of a wise man who understood the mercy of God. Few perhaps would have the courage to express such a wish, and yet to do so would only be to ask for that release from sorrow, which a kind Creator almost always extends to us."or Mr. Arabin’s disillusionment after devoting himself to religion at the expense of all else"Not for wealth, in its vulgar sense, had he ever sighed; not for the enjoyment of rich things had he ever longed; but for the allotted share of worldly bliss, which a wife, and children, andhappy home could give him, for that usual amount of comfort which he had ventured to reject as unnecessary for him, he did now feel that he would have been wiser to search."Really, the whole book is a barrage of good lines.
    • 4/5
      There was a time when Anglican clergy did not wear stripy jumpers. Glorious intrigues in the provinces with the high-born gentlemen of the Victorian English Church.
    • 2/5
      Not really for me. Parts of it are absolutely brilliant. And I love the constant humor and authorial asides. But it is very uneven, and long parts just drag along. It picks up some plot momentum, but in a very conventional direction. "But let the gentle-hearted reader be under no apprehension whatsoever. It is not destined that Eleanor shall marry Mr. Slope or Bertie Stanhope. And here perhaps it may be allowed to the novelist to explain his views on a very important point in the art of telling tales. …""I can only say that if some critic who thoroughly knows his work, and has laboured on it till experience has made him perfect, will write the last fifty pages of a novel in the way they should be written, I, for one, will in future do my best to copy the example. Guided by my own lights only, I confess that I despair of success."
    • 5/5
      I had never read anything from Trollope and I once tried to watch “The Barchester Chronicles” series, but could not stand it. So I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. The quality of Trollope's writing is absolutely fantastic, impeccable. He most definitely was a highly talented writer who knew his trade! (Therefore, not recommended to modern readers who are not used to a time when quality of writing rather than quantity of books written was essential.) This is the second of a total of six books in the “The Barchester Chronicles of Barsetshire,” the first being “The Warden”. Trollope begins the last chapter with a very original argument: “The end of a novel, like the end of a children’s dinner-party, must be made up of sweetmeats and sugar-plums.” The book sometimes has very lengthy descriptions—of people, places or situations—but the author’s fine sense of humor, that permeates almost all the pages, and his keen portrayals of the mores of the time, make up for any inconvenience.
    • 4/5
      Great stuff... wavered a bit at one point, this is a pretty long Trollope, but fun of course.... I'll eventually read all the Barsetshire books!
    • 4/5
      After a slow start due to the language and writing style, I enjoyed Barchester Towers very much. The plot is exquisitely interwoven with the many well-drawn characters coming together in the last third of the book. The humour and satire is gentle as we revisit characters from Trollope's prequel, The Warden, which isn't necessary to understanding this novel. Barchester Towers will not an easy read for many people, but this British classic is well worth the effort.
    • 5/5
      If you think church politics is a dull topic, you'll think again after reading Barchester Towers. The death of a bishop and the appointment of his replacement throws the cathedral town of Barchester into turmoil. Its clerics take sides and jockey for position. High church clerics are pitted against those with evangelical leanings. The bishop's authority is up for grabs as his personal chaplain and his wife battle for the position of puppeteer to the bishop/puppet. The chaplain, Mr. Slope, is every bit as smarmy and odious as Dickens' Uriah Heep.I love the way that Trollope uses names to represent character. Mr. and Mrs. Quiverful are the parents of 14 children. Mrs. Lookaloft thinks of herself more highly than she ought. Trollope also excels at descriptions of character, as in these passages describing the bishop's wife:It is not my intention to breathe a word against the character of Mrs. Proudie, but still I cannot think that with all her virtues she adds much to her husband's happiness. The truth is that in matters domestic she rules supreme over her titular lord, and rules with a rod of iron. Nor is this all. Things domestic Dr. Proudie might have abandoned to her, if not voluntarily, yet willingly. But Mrs. Proudie is not satisfied with such home dominion, and stretches her power over all his movements, and will not even abstain from things spiritual. In fact, the bishop is hen-pecked.In truth, Mrs. Proudie was all but invincible; had she married Petruchio, it may be doubted whether that arch wife-tamer would have been able to keep her legs out of those garments which are presumed by men to be peculiarly unfitted for feminine use.Barchester Towers picks up where The Warden left off. It isn't absolutely necessary to read The Warden first, but it would be helpful to do so.
    • 4/5
      This is a love story as well as the story of the church politics of Barsetshire. Trollope shows great insights in human follies and power aspirations. I love his sense of humour as well.
    • 5/5
      Not nearly so serious as The Warden, this, the second in the Barsetshire series is liberally sprinkled with humour. Trollope's mastery with language ensures this will forever be a favourite. It's a story that is difficult to put aside and the characters, becoming old friends or foes as rendered, will remain with the reader for a long time. And no matter their disposition, those characters are so richly coloured that the reader can almost see them in person. My usual dislike of long, wordy books is withheld for Trollope who can entertain as much with his choice of words as with the action.
    • 2/5
      Starts well, but God how it drags. Think Trollope enjoyed writing this one a bit too much.
    • 4/5
      Again, Harding's gentle humour and wickedly drawn characters are a delight. I can't help but think they were slightly more delightful when in that more slender volume The Warden though. But one can hardly complain that very little happens in Harding when that is one of the joys that draws one there. Also, Barchester Towers has the Signora Neroni, and Bertie, both of whom I am in love with. How Harding manages to write characters who he clearly disapproves of but represents so generously is a core part of his charms.
    • 5/5
      What a read! Exquisite.

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    Barchester Towers - Anthony Trollope

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