Anthony Trollope Books

Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) has earned his place in the pantheon of great English Victorian authors. His greatest novels are those in the
Barsetshire series dealing with the clergy and the Palliser novels concerned with politics focusing on the Palliser family.
The first novel in the Barsetshire series "The Warden"introduces us to the Rev. Septimus Harding and his charming daughters Eleanor and Susan. Harding gives up his supervision of Hiram's Hospital for elderly men as that novel concludes. His daughter Eleanor weds John Bolt the newspaperman who had criticized Harding for earning too much in a sincecure; his other daughter Susan is wed to Dr. Grantley the son of the Bishop of Barsetshire. "The Warden" introduces the characters in "Barchester Towers" which is a longer and more complicated novel.
In this novel the new Bishop has been chosen by the British government following the death of old Dr. Granley. He is Bishop Proudie the henpecked husband of one of literature's greatest shrews Mrs. Produie. The uxorious bishop must obey his dominant wife or face the consequences!
As the novel opens Dr. Grantley the scion of old Dr. Grantley is upset that he is not chosen to succeed his father as bishop. He is a member of the high church party in opposition to the evangelical wing of the Anglican church favored by the Proudies. It is time for clerical warfare to begin!
The oily chaplain to the new bishop is the Rev. Obadiah Slope who seeks advancement in the church but fights with Mrs. Proudie over who will have the wardenship of Hiram Hospital. He favors the restoration of Mr. Harding but Mrs Proudie wins out when the Rev. Quiverful, his wife and 14 children win the prize of the wardenship.
A love story is told as widow Eleanor Bold is courted by the odious Rev. Slope; Bertie Stanhope an impecunious and fatuous sculptor and the intellectual clergyman the Rev. Francis Arabin. Arabin is a favorite of the Grantley faction in the church feud with the Proudies.
The widow Neroni is Madeline, the daughter of the Rev. Stanhope, who is crippled but a bewitching temptress for all the men in the story. We also meet the Thornes who are an older brother and sister living in the country near St. Ewolds wherin is located Mr. Arabin's parish. They are hilarious!
The novel ends with the social, religious and romantic worlds in a state of calm salubrity. The novel was a bestseller in 1854 and is the bestselling and most humorous of all the Barsetshire novels. Anthony Trollope wrote about good men and women in a realistic, easy to read style which is enchanting 150 years after first being written.
I have read Barchester Towers several times and still enjoy this enchanting classic from the hand of a literary master.

This Trollope novel has great plotting, wonderful characters, it is interesting from beginning to end. Hightly reommended book!

Browsing in a bookstore, I read a blurb of this book that told every secret twist of its plot. I was enraged, but read 'Cousin Henry' anyway. It was superb, and illustrates perfectly Trollope's own philosophy, given in 'Barchester Towers,' that a good book will not suffer even from the reader knowing what happens. 'Cousin Henry' has other, and considerable, merits, than suspensefulness--although it is suspenseful. It has been called the most psychologically probing of Trollope's works; indeed, Trollope himself thought it to be so, and was very proud of it. The plot, in brief, and without giving anything away, is this: Cousin Henry is the heir of the Squire of Llanfeare--according to the will everyone knows about. But Henry knows of another, later, will, that disinherits him. Most of the book concerns Henry's agonizing over whether or not to make this will public. There is also another plot thread, concerning the Squire's daughter, Isabel, who can only marry if her husband is willing to take her last name (shades of 'Cecilia'). I'll say it again: one of Trollope's best.

The fourth of the Chronicles of Barsetshire, Framley Parsonage (1861) is a gentle novel filled with memorable characters, including many characters from The Warden, Barchester Towers, and Doctor Thorne (Barsetshire Novels). Mark Robarts, a young vicar with a devoted wife, has a comfortable situation at Framley Parsonage on the estate of the indomitable Lady Lufton. Her son, now Lord Lufton, had been a friend of Mark Robarts at school, and it was their friendship which resulted in Mark's position. Mark, though conscientious in his duties and grateful for his situation, is ambitious, however, anxious to expand his horizons beyond Framley.

Lady Lufton, who rules with an iron hand, is appalled when Mark decides to spend a weekend with a "fast" crowd, one which he believes can advance his career. Young and naïve, he becomes the dupe of an aristocratic "con-man," an MP named Nathaniel Sowerby, who persuades him to help him out of a financial jam by signing a note for five hundred pounds (more than half Robarts's yearly salary), allowing Sowerby to draw funds on Robarts's name. In the meantime, Robarts's sister Lucy arrives at Framley Parsonage upon the death of their father. Lucy, a sweet ingénue in mourning, soon comes to the attention of Lord Lufton, but Lady Lufton has many more "significant" matrimonial prospects in mind for her son. As Robarts's financial miseries become more pressing, and as Lucy's disappointment in love increases, the scene is set for a final showdown.

Numerous peripheral characters, many of them known to readers of the series, add to the drama of the primary action. The implacable dowager Lady Lufton, wishing to maintain her family's social position, pushes Griselda Grantly, daughter of Archdeacon Grantly, as the Duke's suitor. The competition between the (Archdeacon) Grantlys and the (Bishop) Proudies for suitors for their daughters adds great comic relief to the story, and the internecine manipulations among the clergy provide gentle satire in a novel which seems to be remarkably domestic in its focus.

Trollope provides a full picture of Victorian life, representing many aspects of society, and though his view of the clergy has in earlier novels been a bit jaded, he is sympathetic to many of its representatives in this novel, seeing them as humans, rather than as types. A sweet novel, part love story and part social commentary, Framley Parsonage is charming, memorable for its characters and picture of Victorian England. Mary Whipple

If you are a fan of Trollope's or just discovering his gifts, you couldn't do better than to read this excellent treatise by Shirley Robin for you'll find yourself 'seeing' so much more in his work and appreciating just how deeply meaningful it is.

Trollope never introduced a character without intending them to represent a type of individual we all meet and then also introducing another who was an opposite to that character representing another 'choice' the other character could have taken, but didn't.

This is a book that takes some concentration to fully appreciate, but it is well worth the effort, for you'll then be able to read Trollope's many books and find all the treasures he left there for you.

Trollope is one of the most prolific writers who ever set pen to paper, surely. For that reason, perhaps, he is underrated. His novels are always lively and understated: he has his sights on a target much harder to hit than mere entertainment. And for readers who want to read well-written stories and, at the same time, be asked to think about serious social issues, Trollope is a must. This novel may be his best.
La Vendée is an historical novel that focuses on the peasant revolt after the French revolution, and, as usual, Trollope works romance into his theme. But his "take" on the revolt, and on war itself, is truly profound. He forces the reader to consider the possibility that war in inherently wrong and that nothing is really accomplished in even the most seemingly justified of wars. He clearly sides with the royalists, though he can see both sides of the complicated political situation. And he wonders aloud, and with increasingly disturbing insights, whether all the death and carnage accomplished anything worthwhile. This is an outstanding novel.

If you have read and enjoyed Trollope's Barchester Towers, you will be acquainted with some of the main characters in The Last Chronicle of Barset Volume I. The main plot is built around Mr. Crawley who appears to have spent some money that was not his to spend. His nemesis is Mrs. Proudie, the bishop's wife. Never fear for he has some old friends who are willing to do there utmost to save him from disgrace.

The Last Chronicle of Barset Volume IV finally brings to conclusion the woes of Mr. Crawley. On the way, the reader discovers a surprise regarding his chief nemisis, Mrs. Proudie. If you enjoy reading Trollope, this volume is sure to please you.

It's quite strange that this book, of all Trollope, is so hard to find. Reviewers didn't like it when it was originally published in the late 1800s, and it never shook its reputation as ultra-tedious. This mystifies me. The melodrama between politically radical Lord Jack Hampton and Marion Fay, a non-aristocratic young Quaker woman who's more of a lady than several of the "ladies" in the book, is flirtatious, accessible and fun (Hampton repeatedly teases Marion that he fell for her when she "poked his fire," i.e. tended his fireplace with a poker--a bolder play with innuendo than Trollope usually engages in). It then turns passionate when Marion won't marry Jack because of a secret trouble involving life-threatening illness. T. uses the situation to examine with great depth and sensitivity the desire to consummate the spiritual union of two souls via marriage. This is the most careful look at what marriage means in T.'s ideal world that I have read in his work yet. He makes it exciting and suspenseful, since we're waiting to see if Marion will really get to poke Jack's fire--or if an unthinkable separation will occur. As in all T., there is a hilarious cast of characters who toe the line that separates the comically pathetic from the dangerously antisocial--for example, will Jack's archetypical evil stepmom just grumble her way through life, or will she scheme to kill Jack? The multiple marriage and family plots are very well integrated, unlike in some other T. novels.

This is one of my favorite Trollopes (and I've read 35 so far)! It is witty, clever and has plot twists worthy of the best suspense writers. This one deals with one of Trollope's favorite topics -- the law -- with the usual romantic crises thrown in, of course. Excellent book and I highly recommend it.