Barchester Towers - Hardcover

Trollope, Anthony

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1907360867 ISBN 13: 9781907360862

Publisher: Macmillan Collector's Library, 2013

Synopsis

Barchester Towers is Anthony Trollope's comic masterpiece. Ranged either side of the unfathomable Victorian divide between the High Anglican clergy and their modern, evangelical brethren we meet the saintly Septimus Harding and the furious Archdeacon Grantly and, opposing, the fearsome bishop's wife Mrs Proudie and her oleaginous chaplain, Obadiah Slope. Exquisitely crafted, this classic tale of love amid ecclesiastical warfare from Trollope's series of Barsetshire Chronicles carries a benign and reassuring message - that the Church of England has always been a rich source of divine comedy.

Illustrated by Leslie Brooke, with an Afterword by Ned Halley.

About this title

Product Description:

The second novel in the Barsetshire sequence opens with the death of the Bishop of Barchester, and follows the ensuing struggle between Low Church and High Church, Tories and Whigs among the city's clerical aristocracy.

Review:

With talk too of a new film of Phineas Finn, Anthony Trollope looks like making a well-deserved comeback. Don t be deceived by the image of a bearded Victorian patriarch that comes to mind: listen to the first two chapters of the magnificent new Naxos recording of Barchester Towers, his most popular novel, and you will understand why John Henry Newman is said to have woken up laughing after falling asleep reading it, and why Alec Guinness never travelled without a Trollope novel. Trollope is one of our greatest comic novelists, as well as having an extraordinary talent for taking you confidentially and irresistibly into the flow of his story. Oblivious of the snail-like pace of Oxford's flood-impeded traffic, I was grinning from ear to ear as David Shaw-Parker explodes into the clerical indignation that follows Obadiah Slope s iconoclastic sermon in Barchester Cathedral. Abominable, groaned the dean. Abominable, muttered the meagre doctor. Abominable, re-echoed the chancellor, uttering a sound from the bottom of his deep chest. I really think it was, said Mr Harding. Proof positive that Trollope wrote with an ear to being read aloud. --Sunday Times 26/1/14

Shaw-Parker follows up his outstanding recording of The Warden (also available from Naxos) with an exceptional reading of the sequel, perhaps Trollope's most beloved novel. Romance vies with church politics as Archbishop Grantly battles against the new bishop and his smarmy assistant for control of religious life in Barsetshire. Shaw-Parker totally embraces his role as narrator, and in delightfully plummy tones, he guides listeners through the twisty plot, witty dialogue, and humorous asides. His animated portrayal of the large cast enlivens characters, from the poor pensioners to elite government officials. The narration highlights the strengths of this charming tale and, despite the novel's size, makes this a compelling listening experience. - --Joyce Saricks, Booklist

About this edition

• Publisher: Macmillan Collector's Library
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1907360867
• ISBN 13: 9781907360862
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 704