From the Bookshelf of Exploring Anthony Trollope…

The Last Chronicle of Barset (Chronicles of Barsetshire, #6)

Anthony Trollope,

Sophie Gilmartin (Editor)

Discussion: Chronicles of Barsetshire

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 8 topics — 36 comments total

Chronicles of Barsetshire

* The Series
By Elizabeth (Al… · 16 posts · 174 views

last updated Jan 12, 2014 04:31PM

Last Chronicle of Barset (possible minor spoiler)
By Paul · 3 posts · 10 views

last updated Nov 12, 2021 11:41AM

What Members Thought

Feb 28, 2019 Jane rated it it was amazing

Reaching the end of Trollope’s tales of Barsetshire left me very nearly lost for words.

The first book – 'The Warden' – created a world and set it spinning, the books that followed illuminated different places and different lives being lived in that world, and now that I have read this book – a grand finale in the best sense of the words – I can’t quite believe that the world Trollope created isn’t still spinning and that he isn’t going to tell me more stories about it.

It was lovely that so many ...more

19 likes · Like · see review

Jun 26, 2018 Theresa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: kindle

Over the last year-and-a-half I've read the 6 books of the Barchester Chronicles, and what a satisfying and joyful discovery. Mr. Trollope is truly the reader's friend, with his authorial asides from time to time that seem to whisper directly to us. I felt a little trepidation in tackling this final and very long book, but took my time and loved it as much as the others. Of course I want to read the Pallisers, but plan to include several recommended stand-alone books of his in the meantime. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Aug 20, 2022 Tom Britz rated it it was amazing

I've finished this six volume series of Anthony Trollope's. This is the largest series I've ever finished and it was definitely worth the effort. Mr. Trollope certainly could bring his characters to life and it's almost as if I've just left a houseful of friends. Like most of the authors of his time, he tends to be long-winded and repeats things a bit much for today's readers, but he more than makes up with his skills of writing. For a book of almost 900 pages and 2 weeks of reading, I never tho ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Apr 24, 2011 Elizabeth (Alaska) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, 5-star-reads, kindle, classics, author-trollope, barsetshire

I hesitated with the 5 stars - it's very good, but perhaps not my favorite of the 6 novels in this series. Trollope brings together all the various characters of the previous novels, as we find they are all related in some way, about to be related in some way, or knows all of one's relatives.

I did so love the major plot point of this one. In Framley Parsonage, we learned of the Crawley family at Hogglestock. They are a poor clerical family, and Mr. Crawley is rather old-fashioned and a bit ecce ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 22, 2020 Trisha rated it it was amazing

Pulling together the previous four books in the Barsetshire Series, this last one focuses on several characters we’ve gotten to know quite well in the previous books: the penniless but obstinately proud Reverend Josiah Crawley, perpetual curate of Hogglestock parish who has been falsely accused of stealing a check; his daughter Grace who refuses to consider marrying Major Henry Grantly until her father’s name has been cleared; the lovelorn ex-hobbledehoy Johnny Eames who is still trying to win t Pulling together the previous four books in the Barsetshire Series, this last one focuses on several characters we’ve gotten to know quite well in the previous books: the penniless but obstinately proud Reverend Josiah Crawley, perpetual curate of Hogglestock parish who has been falsely accused of stealing a check; his daughter Grace who refuses to consider marrying Major Henry Grantly until her father’s name has been cleared; the lovelorn ex-hobbledehoy Johnny Eames who is still trying to win the heart of Miss Lilly Dale who has instead turned her affections on the thoroughly sleazy Adolphus Crosbie; the spineless Bishop Thomas Proudie and his universally despised and interfering wife, Mrs. Proudie; and many more characters Trollope has brought so vividly to life. They’re all unforgettable in their own way – even those who have minor roles to play like the fashionable society painter Conway Dalrymple who’s carrying on a fairly respectable but nevertheless illicit affair with the unhappy wife of shady businessmen Mr. Dobbs Broughton.

One thing I love about these books is the way Trollope treats even the most despicable of his characters with a great deal of respect and sympathy as if he’s hoping we won’t be too hasty in judging them. Although that’s not always easy for me to do – especially when I’d dearly love to be able to tell some of them (like Lily Dale and Reverend Crawley) to stop being so set in their ways.

And I’ve always enjoyed how Trollope can’t keep himself from interrupting the narrative now and then with his personal observations about what’s going on! I suspect he enjoyed writing these books as much as we enjoy reading them. That was the feeling I got at the end of the book when Trollope had this to say:

And now, if the reader will allow me to seize him affectionately by the arm, we will together take our last farewell of Barset and of the towers of Barchester. In this country, he and I together have wandered often through the country lanes, and have ridden together over the too-well wooded fields, or have stood together in the cathedral nave listening to the peals of the organ, or have together sat at good men's tables, or have confronted together the angry pride of men who were not good. . .To me Barset has been a real county, and its city a real city, and the spires and towers have been before my eyes, and the voices of the people are known to my ears, and the pavement of the city ways are familiar to my footsteps. To them all I now say farewell. That I have been induced to wander among them too long by my love of old friendships, and by the sweetness of old faces, is a fault for which I may perhaps be more readily forgiven, when I repeat, with some solemnity of assurance, the promise made in my title, that this shall be the last chronicle of Barset.

...more

Like · see review

Apr 27, 2015 Pperkins rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: big-fiction

Ahhh... that sad but sweet feeling you have when you've finished a long book, in this case 6 long books in a series, and you have to say goodbye to all the characters: annoying, charming, funny, sad and all very very human. I'm now a big fan of Trollope. I plan to read something modern for a while, then pick up the Palliser novels. ...more

Like · see review

Feb 22, 2015 Joseph rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fadiman

It was well worth the time I spent reading the first five novels in this series so that I could more thoroughly enjoy this concluding Chronicle. Absolutely delightful. When I first started The Barsetshire Chronicles, I hadn't also planned on reading Trollope's "Palliser" series, but I may now have to rethink that decision. ...more

Like · see review

Apr 24, 2019 Dianna rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: anthony-trollope

Trollope understands the depth and complexities of human beings; their actions, feelings, thoughts. They are constantly contradicting themselves. He does not draw superficial characterizations.

Like · see review