Read by Simon Vance ( )

There hardly seems a fitting way to begin a review of any of Trollope’s novels without saying that one can never go wrong with him. One gets lost in his worlds of ecclesiastical politics, county politics, sexual politics, and the very astute way he has with getting inside characters’ minds so that the scoundrel figure (here, Mr. Sowerby) still comes across as sympathetic, and the romance plot—a slight reworking of the one in the preceding Barchester book, Dr. Thorne, whose characters recur here, as do others in the preceding chronicles—is hardly sappy or melodramatic. There is high comedy here, as well as tragedy; but Trollope makes us see this as the extremes of life, with the middle ground being the aim—albeit never an easy aim or aspiration in modern life.



Dr. Thorne, for me, is truly where the Barchester Chronicles begin to realize their potential as a series of books with interwoven stories and characters. Indeed, it is only in this book, Framley Parsonage, that meta-references occur back to prior books and some knowledge of prior characters (e.g., the Grantlys, Mrs. Proudie, Miss Dunstable, et al.) would assist a reader unfamiliar with the previous books. Still, as Trollope insists in his meta-comments and in his afterward to the series, these are truly standalone books, despite likely making more sense as their plots build and as his prowess and skill as a novelist grows to read them in order.



Especially interesting here, as is usually the case in Trollope, are the interlocking threads of characters’ lives who are of very different social classes. There are Lady Lufton and her Lord son, of Framley Court; there are the Robartses, a vicor selected by Lady Lufton among her son's friends to lead “her” parish, his wife, and, to date, Trollope's most interesting young female character, Lucy Robarts, Mark's sister; and there is a Duke and a budding fop marquis and a nouveau-riche millionairesss and several shady MPs with whom Mark Roberts has dealings that taint his cloth and make him question his faith as well as his standing in his community. 


To reduce any Trollope novel to one mere storyline or say that there is only one hero or one heroine would be to naively reduce the joy one finds immersed in the worlds he builds. I often wonder at times why reading Trollope’s novels takes me longer than reading denser, but equally long books, such as those by James. And I think it boils down to the fact that the worlds Trollope constructs for his readers are so rich and so real, it might take you 200 pages before you realize that you’re hooked; but, once you’re hooked, you’re stuck there until the end—and with his psychological acuity, the reader is right there along with the characters as they experience debt, heartbreak, conflict in their communities and families, and sometimes soul-wrenching crises of faith that, in Trollope’s prose, especially in the third and second Barchester books, is truly a forerunner to the intense psychological insights found in Eliot and in James a bit later on.



Onward… The wonderful thing about finishing a Trollope is knowing that there are so many more into which one can dive.

And, if you happen to be new to Trollope, I still stand by my recommendation that The Claverings is the best place to start. ( )

Ah, the joy of opening the first pages on a Trollope novel and meeting someone new who is dwelling right in Barsetshire along with all our old friends and acquaintances. Our new friend, this installment, is Mr. Mark Robarts, the clergyman at Framley Parsonage, the living attached to Framley Court, home of Lady Lufton and her son, Ludovic. It does not take a great deal of time to realize this novel is going to be a lesson in social climbing, and the perils thereof.

I am sometimes amazed at the desire people have to rub shoulders with celebrities, even minor ones, and the length they will go to have it believed that they are of importance to such people. They will do very foolish things, fooling no one but themselves ofttimes.

And there is nothing viler than the desire to know great people--people of great rank, I should say; nothing worse than the hunting of titles and worshipping of wealth. We all know this, and say it every day of our lives. But presuming that a way into the society of Park Lane was open to us, and a way also into that of Bedford Row, how many of us are there who would prefer Bedford Row because it is so vile to worship wealth and title?

And there's the rub for our Mark Robarts. He knows he is better not to try to run the race with an inferior horse, but he cannot resist, and having the invitation extended to him, he cannot help feeling that these people desire his company and think of him as an equal.

We have a bit of a villain in another character we meet early on, Mr. Sowerby, but one of the things I admire about Trollope is that he never creates any character who is less than human, and so his heroes have clay feet and his villains are complex and three-dimensional.

We see and hear of such men as Mr. Sowerby, and are apt to think that they enjoy all that the world can give, and that they enjoy that all without payment either in care or labour; but I doubt that, with even the most callous of them, their periods of wretchedness must be frequent, and that wretchedness very intense.

We have, within these pages, examples of what is good and evil in people, the destructive nature of pride, the beauty of sacrificial love, the struggle for true morality in the face of temptations, and the right of individual choice. I love the fire and determination of Mark’s sister, Lucy; the devotion of his wife, Fanny (which I must note was a very popular name in this era and one you never encounter today); and the true friendship of Mr. Arabin for his friend Crawley.

I was also delighted to find Dr. Thorne, Miss Dunstable, the obnoxious Mrs. Proudie, and The Grantleys popping back into view. It makes you feel so at home when you encounter people you already know and either love or despise--it is if you take the story up again where you have left it.

I have two novels left in the series, and I hope to get to them both before the end of the year.


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parson falls in with fast crowd and gets into debt, displeases his patroness who also opposes her son marrying parson's sister

Yay! Back to my favorite characters from Barchester, the Proudies and the Grantlys! I also enjoyed learning more about Mr. Crawley and his family. Because Dr. Arabin's friendship with Mr. Crawley was originally alluded to in "Barchester Towers" it was also nice to see its backstory fleshed out. Unfortunately, Mr. Crawley and Dr. Arabin did not remain friends after Dr. Arabin got a promotion and became wealthy (as described in "Barchester Towers").

So now I want two things from the remaining books in the series: for Mrs. Proudie to get her comeuppance (unless Griselda Grantly's marquisal marriage actually going through is supposed to be just that) and for Mr. Crawley and Dr. Arabin to reconcile.

And the Duke of Omnium - oh my! A "fabricator of evil" and described more particularly, and deliciously, as "a Whig, he was a bachelor, he was a gambler, he was immoral in every way, he was a man of no church principle, a corrupter of youth, a sworn foe of young wives, a swallower up of small men's patrimonies; a man whom mothers feared for their sons, and sisters for their brothers; and worse again, whom fathers had cause to fear for their daughters, and brothers for their sisters;—a man who, with his belongings, dwelt, and must dwell, poles asunder from Lady Lufton and her belongings!"

And this, "But now all things were going wrong, and Lady Lufton would find herself in close contiguity to the nearest representative of Satanic agency, which, according to her ideas, was allowed to walk this nether English world of ours. Would she scream? or indignantly retreat out of the house?—or would she proudly raise her head, and with outstretched hand and audible voice, boldly defy the devil and all his works? In thinking of these things as the duke approached Miss Dunstable almost lost her presence of mind."

If I had a complaint it would be that most of the Parliamentary portions seemed somewhat out of place and could have been by and large omitted from the book with no damage to the story.

I love Trollope's characters - they seem so real and multifaceted, and for the most part they have understandable and reasonable motives for behaving the way they do. I can well believe what some have said about Trollope - that while he was always capable of remembering his characters were of his own invention, he could simultaneously see them as real people whose lives he had just happened to take an interest in.

Other good quotes:

"A burden that will crush a single pair of shoulders will, when equally divided—when shared by two, each of whom is willing to take the heavier part—become light as a feather. Is not that sharing of the mind's burdens one of the chief purposes for which a man wants a wife? For there is no folly so great as keeping one's sorrows hidden."

"Supplehouse was to be there, and Harold Smith, who now hated his enemy with a hatred surpassing that of women—or even of politicians."

And I learned a new word:

Rhadamanthine - showing stern and inflexible judgement.
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