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Anthony TrollopeBarchester Towers (March 5, 2007)

LibriVox recording of Barchester Towers, by Anthony Trollope.

This is the second in Trollope’s ‘Barsetshire’ series of novels. The later novels in the series move away from Barchester itself but 'Barchester Towers' is very much a sequel to the first book ‘The Warden’, which is also available from Librivox.

The old bishop dies, the archdeacon, Dr. Grantly fails to succeed him and a new bishop, Dr. Proudie is appointed. Dr. Grantly gains a worthy foe, not the new bishop but his wife, Mrs. Proudie, strict sabatarian and power behind the Episcopal throne together with the bishop’s chaplain, Mr. Slope.

John Bold is also dead and Eleanor, now a wealthy young widow sets clerical hearts fluttering. The new bishop must deal with the wardenship of Hiram’s Hospital. Will it go to Mr. Harding? All is to play for. Then the old Dean dies and the stakes are raised. (Summary by Andy)


This audio is part of the collection: LibriVox

Artist/Composer: Anthony Trollope
Date: 2007-03-05
Source: Librivox recording of a public-domain text
Keywords: librivox; audiobook; literature; trollope

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: katknit - - August 11, 2009
Subject: Much ado
Second in Trollope's Barsetshire series, Barchester Towers concerns the family of the Reverend Septimus Harding, whom we first met in The Warden. The new bishop has arrived, accompanied by his domineering wife and her hand-picked clerical cohort, the hypocritical Obadiah Slope. A sharply satirical comedy of errors ensues, played out by a cast of memorable characters who struggle for power, position, love, and money. Trollope knew human nature, and he knew how to portray it in both its positive and negative aspects. Part of the appeal of Barchester Towers is that he is able to do so with relative gentleness, without preaching or obvious moralizing. I'm looking forward to the sequel, to find out what happens to the bishop's virago of a wife.

Reviewer: ListeninginChicago - - July 16, 2009
Subject: An enjoyable character study
From Librovox:
This is the second in Trollope’s ‘Barsetshire’ series of novels. The later novels in the series move away from Barchester itself but ‘Barchester Towers’ is very much a sequel to the first book ‘The Warden’, which is also available from Librivox.

The old bishop dies, the archdeacon, Dr. Grantly fails to succeed him and a new bishop, Dr. Proudie is appointed. Dr. Grantly gains a worthy foe, not the new bishop but his wife, Mrs. Proudie, strict sabatarian and power behind the Episcopal throne together with the bishop’s chaplain, Mr. Slope.

John Bold is also dead and Eleanor, now a wealthy young widow sets clerical hearts fluttering. The new bishop must deal with the wardenship of Hiram’s Hospital. Will it go to Mr. Harding? All is to play for. Then the old Dean dies and the stakes are raised. (Summary by Andy)

My comments: Andy Minter is one of my favorite readers and he takes quite a few chapters in this book. The other readers also do an excellent job, making the entire book easy to listen to.

The book is limited in locale and time, but not in characters. Trollope spends considerable time developing interesting people to populate his little ecclesiastical world. We not only follow the various players around but we hear their thoughts and what the narrator thinks of each of them. There's much misunderstanding, as conversations get twisted and turned in the retelling, as inferences drawn in error take on a life of their own, and as certain characters try t manipulate events to their own advantage. As a listener, I found quite a bit to laugh at, but I also found a fair exposition on how we often see what we want to see and miss the clues which should tell us that reality is otherwise.