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The Warden (Chronicles of Barsetshire, #1)

Anthony Trollope

Start date: January 1, 2026

Finish date: February 28, 2026

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Anthony Trollope

Chronicles of Barsetshire 2026: Reading Schedule
By Piyangie , Classical Princess · 14 posts · 18 views

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Jan 18, 2023 Laura (Reading is a Doing Word) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics-trad-and-modern, 2023-read, trollope

This is the first book in the Barsetshire series, my first Trollope and the beginning of a yearlong Trollope readathon!

The Warden is a slow read. It's a gentle book, despite the main character experiencing some major life upheavals, the drama is conveyed in a somewhat detached manner and Mr Harding, the Warden's inner turmoil, although it feels distressing never really had me too worried for him.

The story centres around Mr Septimus Harding, warden of an alms-house who comes under scrutiny from r This is the first book in the Barsetshire series, my first Trollope and the beginning of a yearlong Trollope readathon!

The Warden is a slow read. It's a gentle book, despite the main character experiencing some major life upheavals, the drama is conveyed in a somewhat detached manner and Mr Harding, the Warden's inner turmoil, although it feels distressing never really had me too worried for him.

The story centres around Mr Septimus Harding, warden of an alms-house who comes under scrutiny from reformer John Bold. Bold deems the Warden's salary incommensurate with the income of the charity he represents and implies that he draws his salary at the expense of the men he looks after.
What ensues is a wrangle between reformers, the church, the law, the press and personal interest and conscience.

There's a lot from the Warden that could be applied to the world today - the power of the press to vilify public figures and the lack of accountability on their part; the conflict between public and private personas; the compromise between the letter of the law and moral justice; the unforeseen consequences of zealous reform compared with settled establishment; the concept of innocents as collateral damage.

Mr Harding is a meek and submissive man, usually dominated by his overbearing son-in-law Dr Grantly, the Archdeacon. Grantly represents the infallible belief in the institution of the church without embodying its better values. Harding comes into his own however, when he feels doubt about the justice of his position and here his true moral character shines through and allows him to stand up for himself and what he believes is right.

The aspects of this story that stuck with me were the friendship between the Warden and the Bishop, the Warden's personal sense of justice and the manipulation of the poor bedesmen.

The idea of shortsighted reform with no contingency plan really stood out. The occupants of the alms-house are caught up in the fervour of reform, the promise of wealth, the interests of the solicitors and the frenzy of the press. No one really cares for them individually or in the long term, and they end up worse off with the charity itself no longer operating efficiently.
This result begs the question - what was the real aim of all those involved? To better the lot of the bedesmen or to seek personal glory in the pursuit of a "cause"?

In the end I loved the Warden and the Bishop was let down by most of those surrounding them. I'm interested to see which of these characters reappear in the rest of the series and how they conduct themselves. An interesting introduction to Barsetshire!

SOME QUOTES
"You are going to make yourself, and her, and her father miserable. You are going to make us all miserable. And for what? For a dream of justice. You will never make those twelve men happier than they now are."

"The bishop had no further argument to adduce; he could not fight for the cause as his son would do; he could not prove all the precentor's doubts to be groundless; but he could sympathise with his friend, and he did so; and Mr Harding felt that he had received that for which he came."
...more

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Jul 03, 2012 GONZA rated it liked it · review of another edition

This was my first Trollope and it was not so easy to read. Maybe it was because the plot was really boring even if I can imagine the function of this book was to introduce us to the people of Barchester, still it was not easy to finish it even if it was only 200 pages long.

Questo é stato il mio primo Trollope e ammetto di averlo sofferto parecchio. Non so se sia stata colpa della trama che era veraente noiosa ed abbastanza esile, ma magari questo volume aveva solo lo scopo di introdurci i person ...more

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Dec 29, 2019 Amy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: librivox-audiobooks

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Jul 05, 2018 Zuly rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book was mildly interesting--a surprise in comparing it to his stand alone novels. There is repetition, and it doesn't advance with the twists and turns of a Dickens' novel. I liked the ending, and Trollope is Trollope. ...more

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