Barchester Towers

The beloved ecclesiastical satire—and enduring political novel—by one of the finest English authors of the nineteenth century.

Part social commentary, part high comedy, the second installment in the Chronicles of Barsetshire is one of Anthony Trollope’s most beloved novels, and cemented the author’s reputation as the preeminent chronicler of Victorian England.

When the well-regarded bishop of Barchester Cathedral unexpectedly passes away, the Evangelical Bishop Proudie—rather than the deceased bishop’s son, Archdeacon Grantly—gains the episcopal see, enraging the rural English community. With the new bishop’s meddlesome wife, Mrs. Proudie, unduly influencing church politics—including an unpopular veto of Septimus Harding’s return to the role of warden of Hiram’s Hospital—the stage is set for a low-stakes war within the confines of the tiny countryside church. And for his part, the hapless Harding, who served as the protagonist for The Warden, will once again finds an enemy vying for the hand of his now-widowed daughter, Eleanor.

Playing on timely doctrinal schisms between adherents of the High Church and Evangelicals, Trollope delightfully lampoons the prevailing ecclesiastical politics of his day. Barchester Towers is Trollope at his best, and its unique composition—fifty-three short but deliciously decadent chapters—makes for a truly pleasurable and engaging read.

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