Barchester Towers (Full Version)

First published in 1857, Barchester Towers is the sparkling second novel in Anthony Trollope’s beloved Chronicles of Barsetshire, a comic-masterly portrait of an English cathedral city thrown into upheaval after the death of its old bishop. Into the vacuum step rival parties and temperaments: dignified traditionalists, brisk modernizers, and opportunists who discover that a clerical career can be as fiercely contested as any parliamentary seat.

With its exquisitely managed scenes of social maneuvering, Trollope explores how institutions endure—sometimes nobly, sometimes absurdly—through vanity, conviction, and compromise. The novel’s wit is matched by its moral seriousness: beneath the drawing-room comedy lies a keen inquiry into authority, sincerity, and what “reform” costs when it meets human pride. Celebrated for its humane intelligence and unforgettable characters, Barchester Towers remains one of Victorian fiction’s most enjoyable studies of power at its most domestic.

• Listeners who love character-driven Victorian novels that balance satire with genuine moral sympathy
• Fans of social comedy and institutional intrigue—where careers, courtships, and reputations are won or lost in parlors and pews
• Readers of Austen, Dickens, or Eliot seeking a warm, witty classic about community, change, and the uses of tradition

Anthony Trollope (1815–1882) was one of the great novelists of the Victorian age, renowned for his expansive, sharply observed portrayals of English social life. Alongside a demanding career in the British Post Office, he produced forty-seven novels, including the six Barsetshire books and the politically focused Palliser series. Trollope’s fiction is admired for its conversational narrative voice, ethical nuance, and comic realism—capturing both the dignity and the folly of institutions such as the Church, Parliament, and the family. His candid Autobiography (published posthumously in 1883) remains a classic account of a working novelist’s life.