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    The Short Stories of Anthony Trollope: Father Giles of Ballymoy; Malachi's Cove
    The Short Stories of Anthony Trollope: Father Giles of Ballymoy; Malachi's Cove
    The Short Stories of Anthony Trollope: Father Giles of Ballymoy; Malachi's Cove
    Audiobook1 hour

    The Short Stories of Anthony Trollope: Father Giles of Ballymoy; Malachi's Cove

    Written by Anthony Trollope

    Narrated by Eve Karpf and Migel Lambert

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Anthony Trollope was an extremely prolific writer, producing forty seven novels and five volumes of short stories as well as travel books, biographies, and collections of sketches. Trollope’s short stories encompass a variety of themes and are set in a number of different countries.

    In this collection, we bring you two of Trollope’s beloved short stories. In “Malachi’s Cove,” Mahala Trenglos, a seaweed gatherer, and Barty Gunliffe, a farmer’s son, are enemies until a near fatal accident brings them together like they never imagined. “Father Giles of Ballymoy” is the story of a hospitable Irish priest whose strange ways are at first misinterpreted by an English visitor.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe Copyright Group
    Release dateJan 1, 2014
    ISBN9781780000114
    The Short Stories of Anthony Trollope: Father Giles of Ballymoy; Malachi's Cove
    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 The Short Stories of Anthony Trollope

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    • 5/5
      Superb, pitch-perfect readings by both narrators of two genuinely beautiful and heartwarming tales by an underpraised master. In these two stories at least, Anthony Trollope confirms his indisputable right to a seat at the banquet of 19th century literary luminaries...while I can't vouchsafe for the novels, these stories unfold in two superlatives sharply absent from the prevailing habits of the author's peers: stark simplicity of discourse, absolute evenness of pace and complete fidelity to the immediate consecution of action, told directly moment to moment, with no commentative asides, recollections, flashbacks, temporal disruption or jumble. Superb writing superbly realized by two voices.
    • 4/5
      It seems nothing much has changed since Victorian times: the church can still spark dissension, the press will still fan the flames of controversy. While this book deals with finances related to an almshouse connected to the church, it is reminiscent of a more recent scandal of the church that became a similar tangled mess. Trollope managed the topic with great diplomacy: Reverend Harding is a sympathetic, lovable, man of integrity, while the appropriately-named Bold, strikes before thinking. Eleanor Harding is delightful, but I cannot condone her choice of love interest. Harding's visit to London was the most entertaining part of the story. Any traveller with time to kill in an unfamiliar place can sympathize.I loved this book once again, and this time I will move on to the rest of Barsetshire Chronicles.
    • 4/5
      Anthony Trollope wrote 47 novels by rising three hours early each morning before going to work at the post office and writing an average of 40 pages. He also has non-fiction to his credit and a mother who had a few things to write about her trip to the United States.If he had the discipline to do this much writing everyday, perhaps I have a chance to do some reading. If he never seemed to have writer's block, how could we claim reader's block?The Warden was his fourth novel but the first one that got enough attention to make a lifelong dedication. This is the first of the six Barchester Novels. Some of you may recall that PBS had a series with Sir Alec Guinness that covered The Warden and Barchester Towers back in the Alistair Cooke days.The Warden is written by a Victorian novelist but it has a modest 200 page length. He is heavy page lifting in many of the other novels. Trollope draws an English world that is packed with very real characters. He did not like Dickens and his exaggerated characters. Trollope is critical but kind toward the characters. He is an excellent way to consider a Victorian novel for the post modern reader.Later this year, his full version of The Duke's Children will be released for the first time as a major private publishing event. Significant edits were done for previous releases. This is one of the Barchester novels. Expect to hear much reevaluation of Trollope this year. These would be good Masterpiece Theater fodder for the Downton sorts.
    • 4/5
      The warden, Mr. Harding, was the administrator of a residence for poor, retired and elderly or disabled gentlemen from Barchester. He became embroiled in a dispute over the allocation of trust funds designated to finance the residence. Harding was written as the most honorable, honest and self-effacing man on earth, who was undone by a sanctimonious do-gooder and a muckraking newspaper. Amusing, perceptive, satirical and at times quite current-feeling, this book was very enjoyable. I also liked the narration of the audiobook by Simon Vance. I don't know why I have avoided Trollope for so long, but I intend to try more of them.
    • 4/5
      Being a lover of Victorian fiction, I have wanted to read something by Anthony Trollope for a long time but didn't know which of his books to begin with. I've heard a lot about The Way We Live Now and Can You Forgive Her? but I decided to go with The Warden because it's relatively short and I thought that if I wasn't enjoying it I'd be more likely to finish a book with 200 pages than one with 800. Luckily, this wasn't a problem – I enjoyed the book and wouldn’t have minded if it had been longer.In the year 1434 John Hiram established a hospital (or almshouse) in the town of Barchester where for centuries to come, twelve elderly, infirm men could live under the care of a warden. At the time when the story takes place, Septimus Harding is the current warden and whilst the amount of money given to the old men has barely changed at all over time, the warden's income has increased to eight hundred pounds a year. When reformer John Bold decides to investigate, Harding finds himself facing a moral dilemma.The book really made me stop and think, because none of the characters seemed to be either completely in the wrong or completely in the right. Although it was clearly unfair that Mr. Harding was receiving so much money, I sympathised with him because as soon as the unfairness of his position was brought to his attention he became determined to do the right thing. As for the other main characters – John Bold and Harding's son-in-law Archdeacon Grantly – although they are on opposite sides of the debate and have very different opinions regarding the warden's situation, Trollope presents them both as well-intentioned people with normal human flaws. The female characters don't play a very big role in this book, but I loved the relationship between Mr. Harding and his daughter Eleanor.I really liked Trollope's writing style which is elegant, insightful and witty in a gentle way. There are a few chapters where he departs from the main storyline to spend several pages talking about politics or the media but this is a common trait of Victorian writers. Although it was slow moving in places, Trollope managed to keep me interested from beginning to end. I'm sure some of his other books will be better, but this one was good enough to make me want to read more of his work.
    • 5/5
      Without being condescending, I believe modern readers might not be able to properly appreciate the writing qualities of writers such as Trollope. (If one takes Dickens, for example, it seems he is so well-known that people vacillate before giving him bad reviews; I love Dickens, by the way.) Since I was used to reading this kind of book when I was a teenager, his prose doesn't seem difficult or strange at all--even despite the fact that English is not my mother tongue. Then there is the manichaeistic quality of the story; if one considers how main characters are nowadays represented with almost overwhelming negative traits, some of Trollope's might seem like "do-gooders". This first volume of the Barsetshire Chronicles is absolutely fantastic, the characters catching and intriguing. The story has some very enjoyable satirical moments. (It seems Trollope believed one could also enjoy some good chuckles while reading good quality literature--to the reader's absolute advantage!) Characters' names could also be very evocative. Mr. Public Sentiment, a writer of inflammatory rhetoric whose newest novel was the “Almshouse”; Dr. Pessimist Anticant, a “Scotchman, who had passed a great portion of his early days in Germany” examining things and “their intrinsic worth and worthlessness”; Sir Abraham Haphazard, who “always sparkled,” “was a man to be sought for on great emergencies,” but had “no heat.” Trollope had a problem with the media then—which I can relate today. According to him “the public is defrauded when it is purposely misled. Poor public! how often it is misled! against what a world of fraud has it to contend!” And he correctly proclaimed that a newspaper article was nothing “but an expression of the views taken by one side?” True: “Ridiculum acri Fortius et melius magnas plerumque secat res.” He attacked journalists’ unaccountability in the person of the Jupiter’s journalist: “But to whom was he, Tom Towers, responsible?” Towers was “able and willing to guide all men in all things, so long as he is obeyed as autocrat should be obeyed.” The newspaper's evocative name, Jupiter, brings us to Mount Olympus (chapter XV) from where the gods—journalists—would be systematically dictating the opinions to be embraced by the mortals—the “poor public.” Fine humor, brilliant writing, definitely a must read.
    • 3/5
      This is the first Trollope book I've read and it was slow-moving and somewhat mediocre. However, I have been promised that the ones that follow are better! That being said, the story revolves around the question of the possible misuse of charitable funds by Septimus Harding, a well-liked clergyman in the town of Barhcester, who is also the warden of a man's alms house. The chief protagonist who suggests the accusations against the warden is also in love with the Harding's daughter and there is the conflict of duty and love. Definitely a Victorian read.
    • 4/5
      The Warden is the first book in Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire novels, and deals with a sticky legal question involving the Church of England's financial responsibilities. Under the will of John Hiram, twelve aged workingmen are to be supported in a hospital (or home) and overseen/served by a warden of the church. Since Hiram's 1434 will, the income from his estates has increased dramatically and the surplus monies have been routed to the warden rather than to the workingmen (whose needs are fully satisfied in their current arrangements). When a young liberal activist named John Bold learns that Hiram's will is not being followed to the letter, he immediately opens a lawsuit to investigate the church's appropriation of the money. What complicates matters is that Bold is in love with Eleanor Harding, the daughter of the current warden — and Bold considers Mr. Septimus Harding himself to be a good friend. Can he reconcile what he feels is his civic duty with these personal loyalties? Who really should get that eight hundred pounds a year?Mr. Harding is a wonderfully endearing character. In addition to being the warden of the hospital, he is also a preceptor and delights in the music for the church services. He is a humble man who is horrified at the grasping, greedy picture of himself that the newspapers paint for the world to read. After a struggle of no mean proportions, he determines that he must give up the wardenship and its accompanying eight hundred pounds, despite the financial blow it will be and the bullying tactics of his more worldly-wise son-in-law, Dr. Grantly. The little machinations to which Mr. Harding resorts in order to get his way despite his weakness are funny and sad at the same time. He's very much a passive-aggressive type, unwilling and unable to argue with Dr. Grantly but firm in his convictions. He buys a clean conscience in the end, despite everything his friends try to do to save him from his own moral promptings.There are other endearing characters as well. Eleanor is quite the heroine with her brave resolve of giving up John Bold to save her father. Though she is foiled in this noble plan by her friend, Bold's sister Mary, there's no doubt Eleanor really did intend to see it through. I also liked the bishop, another fuddling and "weak" man like Mr. Harding who nevertheless demonstrates true charity and consideration for others. Dr. Grantly is really the only villain in the book (well, perhaps Tom Towers and Abraham Haphazard qualify too), but even he is softened. Indeed, Trollope does his best to apologize for Dr. Grantly's overbearing manner and inflexible pride... and he succeeds. I can't dislike Dr. Grantly nearly as much as I think I ought to. Perhaps Trollope did not feel it wise to castigate a clergyman too harshly. I appreciated the dry, understated humor that crops up unexpectedly throughout the novel. There is Trollope's brilliant description of a ball, wherein the young men and young women are depicted as opposing armies staring at one another across the ballroom and slowly making advances. The metaphor is quite drawn out and it gets funnier as it continues. And there are the "conjugal confabulations" of the imposing Dr. Grantly and his wife as they converse in bed, along with some amusing reflections on what a trial it must be for clergymen's wives to see their dignified husbands in all states of dishabille. You have to be on the watch for Trollope's humor; he doesn't trumpet that he is being funny when he makes a smart little comment about someone. I laughed at his little descriptions, like the archdeacon's sigh "that would have moved a man-of-war." In some ways it's almost Austenian. In other places (especially in the conversations of the bedesmen), Trollope reminded me of Thomas Hardy's working-class characters.In his introduction, Louis Auchincloss writes that the crux of the novel is a recurring theme with Trollope: the inevitable collision of traditional privilege and modern ideas. Auchincloss claims (and I think I'd agree) that Trollope understands, to some extent, why people would agitate for change, but ultimately he isn't sure that the change will be for the better. Auchincloss also gently chides Trollope for criticizing the power of the popular newspaper and for portraying Dickens as a sentimentalist painting in garish colors. I'm not sure I care for Auchincloss's tone here; it's one thing to point out Trollope's criticism, but another to call it "inappropriate," as if Trollope is a child being reproved for saying a bad word.I enjoyed this quiet little novel, so commonplace in its events but undergirded with little profundities, like Mr. Harding being "not so anxious to prove himself right, as to be so." Would that I were the same. I'm new to Trollope, but it seems one the chief delights of his work are the little gems like that. I look forward to the rest of the Barsetshire novels!
    • 3/5
      This is the first Trollope book I've read and it was slow-moving and somewhat mediocre. However, I have been promised that the ones that follow are better! That being said, the story revolves around the question of the possible misuse of charitable funds by Septimus Harding, a well-liked clergyman in the town of Barhcester, who is also the warden of a man's alms house. The chief protagonist who suggests the accusations against the warden is also in love with the Harding's daughter and there is the conflict of duty and love. Definitely a Victorian read.
    • 3/5
      Good enough that I'll continue with the series. What you may call an authorial third person omniscient. Steps aside to confide in his reader here and there. Pokes fun at Dickens. Frames an interesting moral/legal dilemma here in which the decent Mr Harding (the warden or overseer of a kind of old-age home) is forced to make a conscience-clearing decision.
    • 4/5
      Complementary to The Warden and Barchester Towers is the BBC production, The Barchester Chronicles, which is superbly done. Of notable mention, the production was Alan Rickman's vehicle to notoriety. He is brilliant as the contemptible Obadiah Slope.
    • 4/5
      I've read this book three times now. The second time I read it, I couldn't believe how boring it was, but maybe I was just in the 'wrong place' to read it. It is perhaps the least engaging of the Barsetshire novels - it doesn't have any characters as enjoyably awful as Mrs Proudie, or the touching love story of 'Dr Thorne'. What it does provide, though, is a portrait of a quietly good man determined to do the right thing when placed in an untenable position.Rev Septimus Harding is the cathedral precentor and also the warden of Hiram's Hospital, a charitable fund set up to look after twelve men no longer able to work. From the proceeds of the estate, the warden is entitled to provide an income for himself.Rev Harding is a kindly, fair-minded man. So, in his own way, is John Bold, who has a passion for the reform of all abuses in society. He takes up the cause of the bedesmen who have been led to believe that they are entitled to ?100 a year. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Bold is in love with Harding's daughter, Eleanor.The plot itself is relatively slight, and nothing really staggering happens. But I think its charm lies in the warmth with which Trollope gives us this perfect picture of a genuinely good, sincere man. The novel is gentle but unsentimental, relatively spare for a Victorian novel, and without excess. [April 2006]
    • 4/5
      Ahh... Mr. Harding. One of the true good guys in all the history of literature.
    • 3/5
      I read a recent article (I can't remember where) about Trollope's current popularity ... so, I started with the first in the Barsetshire series. Pleasant enough, and I see that the conflicts do seem transposable to modern times. There are some nice Victorian word choices including benison for blessing, ribands for ribbons, appanage and cellaret. I think in the first few pages the word 'close' was used in three different meanings that I was unfamiliar with. Unfortunately, I found Mr. Harding somewhat reminiscent of one of the too good characters in Uncle Tom's Cabin, but I intend to carry on.
    • 4/5
      The Warden by Anthony TrollopeWould I read another novel by this author?Most definitelyWould I recommend this book?Yes.Who would I recommend it to?Anyone who likes Dickens and stories that are humorous while they raise important social questions.Did this book inspire me to do anything?Yes. Read more books by Anthony TrollopeThis book deals with the question of social justice, the practice of self-justification by long established organisations, the power of the press and the power of what, at the time, was the closest thing to mass media, i.e. the weekly fiction magazines such as the ones produced by Dickens (who features in the story under a pseudonym). All the things just mentioned are dealt with thoroughly in the book, but the core element of this story is the impact on the lives of the individuals who find themselves in the middle of a controversy not of their making, and the impact on individuals is not limited to only one side of the argument/scandal. Trollope tells his story about serious matters, but through characterisation and phraseology he brings much humour to the tale. By use of his vast vocabulary, and keen perception of society, he presents his characters in social situations that highlight injustice in a human fashion, showing both sides of the dispute, and clearly demonstrating that there are often unscrupulous individuals who will use any unfortunate situation to gain power for themselves, their organisation, or what they perceive to be their class. The fact that this story is focused on an alms-house under the care of The Church of England does not invalidate the general application of the lessons in the story to many situations, both at the time of the book’s writing, and the present day. The media used to spread scandal and crucify individuals has changed from the time of Trollope, but the effects on individuals, whether guilty or not, will be the same as those experienced by the eponymous main character of this story.
    • 4/5
      Love the writing and the language, even if I have to, at times, read a sentence twice, three times. I still love the beauty of how the words are used and each sentence is an interpretation. Trollope created a character who was drowning in his virtues. I thought there was a better solution to his dilemma, he wasn't a practical man, idealistic perhaps, but unable to see the impact of his actions on other people. His conscience was satisfied, but he abandoned the others who were his responsibility, via his job. The future bedesmen that could have benefited from the trust were never allowed the opportunity because of the warden's need to keep his conscience pure.
    • 4/5
      My first Trollope and very much as I’d been led to expect, but surprising in many ways, too. The title character, a middling churchman called Harding, benefits from the wardenship, in the gift of the Bishop, of an endowed invalid hospital and the cushy income that comes with it, some centuries after the original bequest. Innocent as the day is long, he plays his cello, carries out his trifling episcopal duties, and draws his £800 p.a. until fine young social reformer, and suitor of the Warden’s daughter, John Bold, takes it on himself to campaign for a distribution of the old legacy more equable and in keeping with the ancient benefactor’s intention. Suddenly the Warden’s world is wobbling, and the more he thinks about it, the more convinced he is that he’s been living fraudulently. It’s the anti-Dickens — no-one is all good or all bad, no heroes and certainly no villains here. Trollope in one of his very many authorial intrusions even mock-apologizes for the somewhat derogatory portrayal of one character, insisting that he has many redeeming qualities that simply weren’t relevant to the story. The Trollopisms are generally well-received but do sometimes get in the way of things — but no more so than Thackerayisms, Dickensisms, etc. Speaking of Dickens, he’s in the pillory here as “Mr Popular Sentiment”, a novelist who takes up the cudgels for Bold. It’s a slam dunk as far as I’m concerned — Dickens is ludicrously sentimental, a populist, a writer shamelessly pandering to his public. But he’s also a writer of genius, sometimes, who produces prose that not only would be outside Trollope’s ambit but would embarrass a Trollope novel — descriptive journalistic passages like when Dickens delves into the grime of the street or of journalism or of drawing rooms, in a way Trollope would never dare do. Here we get high-handed satire of journalism and politics, but it’s essayistic. Dickens for all his flaws was a democratic author, someone who wrote everything he saw and saw most things more or less unprejudicedly. Trollope, we realise in the last chapter or two of The Warden, is a very conservative voice, who genuinely believes that if the oppressed would just shut up about their oppression, they’d die happy and grateful to their betters. I found the ending of this novel unpalatable, but I really liked spending time with the Warden, a beautifully realized character, and the other habituees of this amusing sliver of C19 English life.
    • 3/5
      No heroes - simple plot - like dickens but lighter
    • 4/5
      I chose this because I've always wanted to try this author and now that I've found the Serial Reader app, this was easy to read. The novel is about a man who is in charge of a home run by the church for poor elderly men who needs medical care at the end of their life. Trouble ensues for the Warden of this home when a local do-gooder thinks the men deserve more money than they are receiving for their care and the Warden should be making less. The rest of the novel is how the various characters deal with this issue. There isn't much drama but I found myself enjoying this and found it a pleasant read. The Warden, Mr. Harding, is a likable man and I found myself in sympathy with him throughout the novel.
    • 4/5
      You never forget your first Trollope. In my case, I was surprised to find a very gentle, witty, assured portrait of a group of generally decent people engaged in the kind of struggle that is at the same time very specific to its time and place, and instantly understandable as an experience in human society. I won't say what that struggle is, because it would strike most people as boring, and yet I was never bored. This is to bedtime reading what a quick pasta in a creamy sauce is to a weekday night in winter: pure comfort literature. I understand that this was only Trollope's fourth novel out of the forty-some he published during his life, so I'll be interested to read the rest of the Barchester series and perhaps watch as he expands his authorial palate.
    • 4/5
      This short novel is the first of the author's six Barsetshire chronicles, set in the fictional county town and cathedral city of Barchester, a generic West country location. It's a simple tale of a legal dispute over the distribution of charitable funds under an ancient will, and the conflicts this causes in the family of warden Septimus Harding, especially with his married daughter Susan and son in law Archdeacon Grantly, and his unmarried daughter Eleanor and her suitor John Bold. Despite its seemingly trivial nature, this strikes a chord and was quite an enjoyable read, with the author's writing style fairly simple and direct, by 19th century standards. He satirises Dickens as Mr Popular Sentiment.
    • 4/5
      Reverend Septimus Harding, at fifty years old, became Precentor of the Cathedral as well as the Warden of Hiram's Hospital. Because of his dual employment he makes a significantly higher wage than others. This inequality of salary is a modern conflict and no one is more bothered by this than John Bold. But Mr. bold has a conflict of interest. While he is against Mr. Harding's significant salary and starts a petition to challenge it, he is also attracted and betrothed to Harding's twenty four year old daughter, Eleanor. When he realizes the heartache he has caused the Harding family he tries to retract his complaint..but of course it is too late. The wheels of justice have been set in motion. The lesson for John Bold is you made your bed, now you have to lie in it.The lesson for the Warden is one of morality. Eventually, the suit is abandoned but Harding is still wracked with guilt. He resigns despite everyone's urging to reconsider.
    • 5/5
      Highly enjoyable satire skewering the administration of bequests by the church, and the role of the press and the law in public disputes. Apart from the language it could have been written today, so sharp was the wit and pillorying of the central protagonists. Dickensian character names e.g. John Bold, who is Bold, but ill-considered; Mr Harding, who is a pushover, not hard at all; etc., add to the fun. Highly recommended to book groups, as ours enjoyed a full 90 minutes of discussion, with more to discuss yet.
    • 5/5
      I really didn’t mean to set out on my journey through Trollope’s Barsetshire novels this year. I loved the Palliser novels, I planned to read a few more of his stand-alone novels before I began his other series; and, if I’m honest, I have to admit that I was a little wary of this first book, that many have said is weaker that the books that follow and that I gave up on back in the days before I came to understand what makes Trollope so very special.A disappointing dramatisation of a book from the middle of this series – I’ll say no more because others who know and love that book have said it already, and much better than I could – made me want to read that book. Because, disappointing though it was, I could see enough in the underpinning to suggest that it was likely to be a book I would love.That was why, with just a little apprehension, I picked up this first book in the series.I loved it. And now that I am well into the second book in the series I have to say that I’m not enjoying it as much as I enjoyed this first book. ‘Barchester Towers’ feels rambling and unstructured after this book; I do like it, but not as much as I had hoped, and so I have put it to one side for a while.‘The Warden’ is one of Trollope’s shorter novels, and I would liken it to a beautifully wrought miniature; not quite perfect but lovely nonetheless.This story, like many a Trollope, spins around a will. An alms house was set up under the terms of the will of John Hiram in the fifteenth century, to provide food, comfort and shelter for twelve old men who had no home and no means. They were also granted a shilling and fourpence a day for any other wants they might have.What surplus there was – and sometimes there was very little – was granted to the warden a clergyman responsible for the running of what would become known as ‘Hiram’s Hospital’ and for the spiritual welfare of the men who resided there.The explaining of this took a while, and that may have been why I put the book down first time around. This time though I felt at home in the author’s company and I recalled that my aunt had been warden of a similar alms house, albeit in a different age and under very different terms.This story begins when Septimus Harding, a respected, well-liked clergyman, was the warden of Hiram’s Hospital, and when the value of the bequest had grown significantly. That meant that Mr Harding had a very healthy income as well as a lovely house and garden; and he was happy in his work; he cared for his twelve residents and they all liked and respected him.It is the story of the trials of Mr Harding.John Bold, an earnest young reformer, was convinced that the hospital funds were being unfairly allocated and that the warden’s income was out of proportion to the minimal duties he is expected to perform. Mr Harding was unworldly, he had never thought to question the financial arrangements of the hospital, though he had had used his personal funds to increase the allowance given to the hospital’s residents to one and sixpence a day.The popular press took up Mr Bold’s cause, it became a cause celebre, and a court case ensued.The clerical community, with the forceful archdeacon Dr Grantly, son of the Bishop and husband of Mr Harding’s elder daughter at the forefront, supported the continuation of the warden’s right to the surplus income from the bequest.John Bold took the opposite view; even though he considered Mr. Harding as a friend, even though he sought the hand in marriage of his younger daughter, Eleanor.Mr Harding wanted to do the right thing, but he was none to sure what the right thing was.I loved the way that Trollope told this story. He presented his characters and all of the arguments so well; his narrative voice was warm, acute and witty; and I was particularly taken with how well he created the letters and newspaper reports that illuminated his story.I appreciated that, though I had a good idea where his sympathies lay, he presented both sides of the matter quite clearly. That made it easy to feel empathy with Mr Harding, a good man who really didn’t know what the rightness of the case was. And to wonder what had been the intentions of John Hiram when he made his will, and what would happen to the old men at the institution the bore his name.I was very taken with archdeacon, Dr Grantly. He was so certain of the rightness of his cause, and so formidable as he set out to fight for that cause. He was wonderfully entertaining on the printed page, and, though I’m not sure I’d like to meet him in real life, I loved his tenacity, and his loyalty to his family and the church.I loved Eleanor Harding. She was as devoted to his father as he was to her, and she snubbed John Bold while he was in the enemy camp. She didn’t cut her ties with him though; his sister continued to be her dearest friend, and she hoped that her romance could be rekindled when the court case was over and the dust had settled. She would always be loyal to her father, but she would never lose sight of the future that she knew was ahead of her, the life she wanted to lead.Most of all though I loved Septimus Harding. He loved his daughters, he loved the old men who were in his care, he loved the work he had been called to do, he appreciated all of the good things he had in his life; and when finally decided what was the right thing to do he proved to be as tenacious, in his own quiet way as his formidable son-in-law.The sequence of events, as he travelled to London and found his way to the people he needed to see – very much an innocent abroad – was beautifully judged and a joy to read.,His subsequent visit to the bishop, an old and sympathetic friend, and his return to Hiram’s Hospital were every bit as good.There were one or two character I would have liked to spend a little more time with – Mary Bold, Susan Grantly and certain of the residents of Hiram’s Hospital – but this is a small book and there is a whole series ahead of me to see a little more of the characters in this book and to meet others.I’m not sure that I’ll like the next book as much as this one, but I do want to give it another chance and I do want to spend more time in this world.
    • 4/5
      I fear this review may put me on the LT naughty step, but I didn't love this anywhere near as much as expected. When it eventually got going it became interesting enough, but for a short novel boy it took it's time. Perhaps it was the clerical setting that I found a little dull until I reached the actual cusp of the tale. Anyway, I felt like I was plodding through this novel for much of it, and actively looking forward to reaching the end so I could get on to my next book.3.5 stars - ultimately a clever tale of consequences, but the diocese setting wasn't for me.
    • 2/5
      Not my cup of tea. I agree that Trollope is able to tell the stories of the English people, but it is a bit slow. Good for practicing speed reading!
    • 2/5
      “Did you ever know a poor man made better by law or a lawyer!'Four hundred years before the action starts John Hiram establishes a charitable hospital for the poor men of the nearby town of Barchester. Overseeing the hospital is a warden, a position gained from the preferment of the town's bishop. The estate is now making enough money that the warden can be paid a high salary. Local man John Bold,who sees himself to be a kind of moral crusader, believes that this position and salary is a corruption, of the original bequest so starts a legal battle.The case is important. The clergy believes that this can set a legal precedent concerning the role of the Church of England. In contrast Tom Towers, a reporter for the newspaper the Jupiter, takes up the case for the bedesmen (residents) and writes several slanderous editorials attacking the Church and the warden.The Warden is largely the exploration of Mr. Harding's conscience, his craving for privacy, his sense of duty, and his love for Eleanor and the men of the almshouse. At the centre of it is the wonderfully complex figure of Mr. Harding, thrust into a limelight he loathes and forced to defend a position he is beginning to consider indefensible. Trollope makes repeated references to Greek Gods and Goddesses. When Eleanor decides that she must sacrifice herself for her father's sake, she is inspired by the myth of Iphigenia, who sacrificed herself for her father. Tom Towers sees his office at the Jupiter as Mount Olympus and he sees himself as a god, shaping the reality of all the people. The comparison of the characters to heroes and heroines from ancient myths hints at the cruel, detached nature of most gods and goddesses. The story is told in third person by a narrator who often seems to be omniscient, revealing many characters' innermost thoughts. Once in a while, however, the narrator speaks conversationally to the reader, as though the reader and narrator are sitting together telling a story. Sadly time has not been beneficial to Trollope.I doubt if the subject matter is relevant any more,assuming it ever really was. Whilst the prose is beautiful there is very little action and this is often stymied by over elaboration, either about the environs or the characters themselves giving it rather stilted feel IMHO. That said this my first experience of Trollope so I cannot honestly say if this representative of his output or merely the result of this being the first book in a series. The tale is a gentle, heart-warming affair but I can imagine that this book will have an almost marmite quality to it, either you will love or loathe it.
    • 4/5
      I've not read Trollope before, and just recently decided it was time to fill that particular gap in my education, so resolved to begin picking up nice copies of his works as I found them. Quite literally the next day there was a lovely near-complete set of the Barsetshire books (Everyman's Library edition) on the shelves at a local shop, and I couldn't resist just adding the lot of them to my shelves. A copy of the missing volume was easily obtained, and now I can look forward to savoring them (that is, if I can manage not to read them all in one grand bacchanal, which may be difficult to avoid if this first dip into the pool is any indication). What a delight this was! A lush, leisurely story, filled with dry humor, an intriguing cast of characters, and with a real moral dilemma at its heart. And ooooh, that Archdeacon Grantly! From the very first I had this "no way this can possibly end well" sense, and it was a great pleasure to see how Trollope brought it all together. Effectively satirical and deeply amusing, this volume has very much made me want to read more.
    • 3/5
      I had been warned that this is not Anthony Trollope's most exciting novel, but as it is the first in the Barsetshire Chronicles and I had a copy at hand, it was the first Trollope that I've read. It hasn't generally aged well, nineteenth century Church of England politics being somewhat out of fashion as a topic of interest, but the writing is strong and reminded me why I enjoy Victorian authors so much. Reverend Harding is a pleasant, ineffectual man who has a sinecure as the warden of a small retirement home for deserving working class men that includes a house with pleasant gardens and an annual salary of 800 pounds, given to him because one of his two daughters had married the son of the bishop. Here he lives comfortably, enjoying his music, reading books and visiting the old men in the adjoining hospital now and again. His life would have continued in pleasant routine had not a spirit of reform begun to sweep England and a young reformer, the aptly named John Bold, questioned the generosity of the annual allowance. Trollope is clearly on the side of the status quo, and he breaks from the narrative to complain about the tactics of an author (supposedly Charles Dickens), whom he calls Mr Popular Sentiment, and who he accuses of biasing the public by creating characters and situations that manipulate the reader into sympathy with his poor working class characters. Of course, Trollope is doing exactly the same thing here; Harding is so mild and inoffensive that it is impossible not to hope that he can keep his generous and largely unearned salary. Outside of the machinations of the lawyers, clergymen and journalists, there is a sub-plot involving Harding's unmarried daughter and John Bold. They had feelings for each other before Bold discovered possible shady dealings on the matter of the wardenship and it's uncertain as to whether their love will survive the conflict. This part of the novel is particularly satisfying, as Eleanor is an interesting character and Bold's conflict as he tries to do what he sees is right without losing her love results in the most satisfying chapters in this brief novel. I'm looking forward to continuing on with the Barsetshire Chronicles.
    • 4/5
      Where I got the book: audiobook on Audible.This is the first novel in the Barchester Chronicles—attentive friends may remember that I listened to the second novel, Barchester Towers, first, loved it and then found it was the abridged version (grrrr) and decided to go back to the beginning and listen to the whole series, unabridged. There are several different audio versions available, and after listening to the samples I opted for this one, narrated by David Shaw-Parker who does a nice job.It’s a simple enough story: clergyman Septimus Harding is living a peaceful life as the Warden of a hospital (a sort of charity home) for old, indigent men. It’s a nice job with few responsibilities and a fat stipend, allowing Mr. Harding to live as a gentleman and support his single daughter Eleanor. But then reformer John Bold (who happens to be Eleanor’s sweetheart) starts asking questions about the legacy that set up the hospital in the first place, and why the Warden lives so well when the old men only receive a small payment. The newspapers start paying attention, and poor Mr. Harding (who’s been supplementing the old men’s living out of his own pocket) has to choose between giving up his comfortable life or putting up with the glare of publicity brought about by a lawsuit.Trollope’s sympathies seem to be squarely on the side of tradition in this story, which was inspired by a number of cases brought against clergymen who were living too well. Having just listened to Barchester Towers (which, of course, I shall be listening to again soon in the unabridged version) I was surprised to realize how closely the two novels are connected—if you’re going to read Barchester Towers, generally considered Trollope’s greatest novel, you should doubtless read The Warden first. Being Trollope there’s a great deal of legal and political detail, interspersed with character sketches at some length. At one point we follow Mr. Harding through just about every minute of a difficult afternoon spent in London, which is hard going even though for the historian it does supply an enormous amount of detail about how people actually lived. It’s during this day that Trollope also goes into a long riff on the power of the press, which is decidedly tedious. In today’s terms, this novel’s got a bit of a saggy middle. And yet I enjoyed the story on the whole, and the audiobook format definitely makes it easier to digest. I’m looking forward to revisiting Barchester in the near future.