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    The Last Chronicle of Barset
    The Last Chronicle of Barset
    The Last Chronicle of Barset
    Audiobook34 hours

    The Last Chronicle of Barset

    Written by Anthony Trollope

    Narrated by David Shaw-Parker

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    In The Last Chronicle of Barset, Trollope concludes his saga of ecclesiastical life. At the heart of the novel is the plight of Josiah Crawley, a proud, impoverished clergyman who faces difficult legal circumstances. Caught amidst poverty, Josiah appears to have stolen a cheque and is forced to stand trial – despite the fact that he cannot remember the cheque’s origins. To make matters worse, his daughter Grace desperately seeks the approval of Archdeacon Grantly, whose son she intends to marry. The Last Chronicle of Barset is a joyful end to Trollope’s series of Barsetshire novels. Here Trollope skilfully weaves together plot threads and characters from earlier novels in the series and provides a fond farewell tour of his cherished diocese.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNaxos Audiobooks
    Release dateMar 15, 2015
    ISBN9781843798910
    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 Last Chronicle of Barset

    4.5/5

    38 ratings13 reviews

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    • 3/5
      The Last Chronicle of Barset is the mondo-mega-long (891 pps.) sixth and concluding book in Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire Chronicles series; it could easily have been a couple hundred pages shorter without sacrificing anything except Trollope's self-conscious pretentiousness at wrapping up such a sizable chunk of his literary output (although his Palliser series would prove even longer). TLCoB's main theme is pride (a theme also explored in He Knew He Was Right), which is sounded in its major key in the story of the penurious and arrogant, over-educated curate of Hogglestock, Josiah Crawley, who finds himself accused of stealing a cheque for £20 (worth at least six times that amount in 2007 money); the matter proves especially thorny when he is unable to remember how he obtained it, how long he had it, or how he disposed of it. The bishop's wife, the Low Church Sabbatarian Mrs. Proudie (who had such a memorable part in the second book of the series, Barchester Towers), seizes upon this scandal as an opportunity to drive a High Church opponent to his knees, if not out of the (Anglican) Church entirely, and dragoons her reluctant husband into convening a formal ecclesiastical court proceeding against Crawley even before the secular court has rendered its verdict. Subplots depicting minor (and often comic) permutations of pride involve the wooing of Crawley's eldest daughter Grace by the widower son of Archdeacon Theophilus Grantly (who is a staunch High Church opponent of Mrs. Proudie and her allies), Major Henry Grantly; the row between Archdeacon Grantly and his son, largely over a refusal to communicate on the matter of Grace (oooh, symbolism!); the continued wooing of Lily Dale by Johnny Eames (a continuation of a major plot from the fifth book, The Small House at Allington); Eames' flirtation with an adventuress, Madolina Demolines; Eames' scapegrace artist friend Conway Dalrymple and his simultaneous flirtations with the heiress Clara Van Siever and the wife of an alcoholic financier, Dobbs Broughton; with a supporting role given to the very aged star of the first book, The Warden, the Rev. Septimus Harding, who epitomizes humility. While there are many fine, even comic, scenes to be found here, TLCoB takes entirely too long to finish, even by Trollope's casual, "triple-decker" standards. The book drags on for over a hundred pages after the Crawley plot is finally resolved; the leave-takings are as excruciatingly interminable as those of the final Lord of the Rings movie, The Return of the King. If all the dangling plot threads aren't resolved entirely to the readers' satisfaction, things for the most part end well rather than otherwise: time will doubtless dull the edges of the bouts of torpor encountered while actually reading this volume, leaving a mostly roseate glow to warm one's memory.
    • 4/5
      The last book in the Barset series. Trollope himself rated it as his best book. I have not read them all, but have (again) read all the Barset novels, and it is perhaps the best of these, even if they are all good. The chapters on Conway Dalrympe and his various women irritated me - but one reviewer on Amazon wrote that these bits were only included because Trollope had an obligation to write a certain number of pages for a magazine publication. I can believe that.... these bits strike me as irrelevant and rather boring. But the rest is very good. The complicated story of the Crawley family, the death of Mr. Harding, and the development of the character of the archdeacon are all wonderful.The love stories of Lily and John as well as Grace and Major Grantley are very well described. I agree with all who have written that if you want to start reading Trollope, start with this series of novels :-)
    • 5/5
      Trollope's final Barsetshire novel has a considerably darker subject than previous entries. Josiah Crawley, the obsessively devoted, extremely poor curate from Framley Parsonage is accused of stealing. His daughter Grace loves and is loved by Major Grantly, but the accusations thwart their romance. Her friend Lily Dale again deals with the love of her former fiancee Crosbie and friend Johnny, while Johnny's London acquaintances face conflict. Trollope also shows what happens to many of his characters from the previous novels - the Proudies, the Arabins, Mr. Harding, the Grantlys and the Luftons.By a large margin, the worst subplot dealt with Johnny's friends in the city. I didn't care about them and it wasn't just because they weren't in previous Barsetshire books. The creatively named but rather dull artist Conway Dalrymple decided to paint heiress Clara Van Siever to try and make a match. Clara was also a somewhat flat character. Conways' amusement, Mrs. Dobbs Broughton, did provide a bit of interest with her hilarious, overly Romantic notions of love, drama and sacrifice but not enough to enliven the plot.Lily Dale's love problems pick up again from The Small House at Allington, when she was jilted by Crosbie but refused to marry Johnny Eames, the man who had loved her all along. Crosbie's wife has died and he tries to renew his suit while Johnny remains as persistent as ever. Trollope slightly shifted his characterization of Eames, so instead of an awkward but sincere clerk, he comes off more like another Crosbie. The main plot involves the trials of Mr. Crawley, Trollope's standard class-conflicted love story and more of Dr. Grantly's infernal thundering. Not only is Crawley accused of theft, but he is also POOR, which rankles Archdeacon Grantly to no end. Mr. Crawley experiences all the humiliation in such a position - possibly more than anyone else could. He's sympathetic, but deeply flawed and manages to have superiority and inferiority complexes at the same time. Crawley was always more intelligent and talented than his old friend Mr. Arabin (they used to take walks in the mud and call each other Frank and Joe) so he thinks he's a little better in that respect and perhaps more deserving. At the same time, he's always hyperaware of his position as a poor curate and won't inflict himself on anyone. However, he's so mired in poverty that it becomes another way that he's better than others - more like a true Christian, and if other people are uncomfortable around him, that's their own fault. The ordeal nearly drives him insane - or at least to contemplate if he is. Mrs. Crawley remains admirable and steadfast in her support of her husband.The archdeacon violently opposes the marriage of his son and Grace Crawley. Again, Trollope half-mocks all his histrionics, especially in comparison to the calm, tactful and knowing Mrs. Grantly. She expertly handles the situation and always has a tart rejoinder to Dr. Grantly's angry mutterings. The men - Crawley and Grantly - are much more emotional, capricious and difficult than their practical wives but luckily both recognize how fortunate they are in marriage. In one good scene, Dr. Grantly appeals to his friend, Lady Lufton senior, to support him but of course she can't, having gone through something similar in Framley Parsonage. Now, she's happy with her daughter in law, the former Lucy Robarts.Will the mystery of the theft be cleared up? Will Grace and the major marry? If you've read any Trollope books before, you'll know how it'll end, but I can't say that I read Trollope for plot. He describes Mr. Harding from The Warden and Barchester Towers - he's living with his daughter and her family, old and out of health. Trollope poignantly details his quiet life - happily playing with his granddaughter and wistfully remembering his former position and his violincello. Had similar mixed emotions for this last book - good while I was reading it, but sad to know that the Barsetshire chronicles were at an end.
    • 5/5
      "It's dogged as does it." ~Hoggert the Brick Maker. So I have doggedly finished all six of these wonderful novels. What I found most touching is that it all ends where it begun, with old Mr. Harding, who was the unlikely 'hero' of the first novel, The Warden. The Warden remains not only my favorite of these, but I think one of the most beautiful novels ever written. I thought that when I finally finished these chronicles of Barsetshire, I would be ready for another author. But I want to read another Trollope novel! I understand now why the British, by the thousands, read Trollope novels in the bomb shelters during Hitler's attempt to break the British spirit. Trollope is not a 19th Century romantic, but a modern realist who writes elegant prose. His deep heart of compassion does not judge people by their class or gender, but by their sincerity.
    • 5/5
      The Last Chronicle of Barset2007, Blackstone Audiobooks, Read by Simon Vance Barchester’s well-loved characters assemble one final time in The Last Chronicle of Barset; and true to form, Trollope proves himself a worthy storyteller as he weaves the threads of this final tale. The pitiful and ornery Mr. Crawley is accused of stealing Mr. Soames’ cheque, an incident which creates all manner of grief. Major Grantly falls for Grace Crawley, and his father, the Archdeacon, is outraged. John Eames, now a wealthy man by the generosity of the late Lord De Guest, persists in his love for Lily Dale while amusing himself with coquette Madalina Demolines, an alliance of which no good can come. The affairs of the Dobbs Broughtons collide with those of the wealthy Van Sievers, and at the heart of the conflict, aside from money of course, is a troublesome painting of “Jael and Sisera.” The detestable Mrs. Proudie meets a just defeat at the hands of Mr. Crawley and Dr. Tempest. And finally, Septimus Harding, the gentle, worthy, and now venerable protagonist of The Warden, where the chronicles began, arrives at the end of his life surrounded by family; and is the subject of a beautifully poignant farewell by Trollope.As always, Trollope kept me wholly entertained. His humour, which I adore, created this laugh-out-loud moment for me when John Eames is cautioned by his friend that his dalliance with Miss Demolines, which he believes to be a harmless friendship, is not what it appears:“I know the bird better than you do, and I strongly caution you to beware of the bird. The bird is a bird of prey, and altogether an unclean bird. The bird wants a mate, and doesn’t much care how she finds one. And the bird wants money and doesn’t much care how she gets it. The bird is a decidedly bad bird, and not at all fit to take the place of domestic hen in a decent farmyard. In plain English, Johnny, you’ll find some day, if you go over too often to Porchester Terrace, either that you are going to marry the bird, or else that you are employing your cousin Toogood for your defense in an action brought against you by the venerable old bird, the bird’s mamma.” (Ch 75)I’ll miss the characters of Barchester and the fabulous Simon Vance, but as all good things must come to a close, The Last Chronicle of Barset does a wonderful job of achieving that end. Highly recommended!
    • 5/5
      Last and one of the best in the Barsetshire series.
    • 4/5
      Although The Warden and Barchester Towers are the ones everybody knows, with the most celebrated comic episodes, this is really the strongest and most mature of the Barchester novels. Trollope winds up many of the loose threads from the earlier novels, and we get some great scenes with Mrs Proudie, Archdeacon Grantly, and other old friends, but it's the forceful yet ambiguous Mr Crawley who provides the central driving force for the story. Anyone who can defeat Mrs Proudie fair and square in open combat has got to be worth following for 600 pages...
    • 5/5
      Outstanding. The characters are so well and convincingly portrayed, a great mixture of homeliness, humanity, sorrows, happiness, family life, romance, anxieties, villainy, power politics, etc all entertainingly set forth with humour and depth of insights.
    • 4/5
      Trollope has really mastered the art of creating irritating characters in this last volume of 'The Barchester Chronicles'--which doesn't make it any less enjoyable. Some are familiar to readers of the earlier novels. There's Mrs. Proudie, for example, the bishop's wife, who seems to think that SHE is the bishop, yammering on about "the souls of the people" while she bullies her husband and everybody else. The namby-pamby bishop is quite irritating on his own accord: he never silences or reprimands his wife until near the end, and then it takes the form of whining and blaming. The focal figure of the novel, the reverend Mr. Crawley . . . well, I wanted to whack him over the head with a 2x4! I understand his forgetfulness and his adherence to principles, but refusing to hire a lawyer (even taking on a free one) when you've been charged with a crime, thus putting your family on the brink of total destitution and disgrace, is unforgiveable, not to mention just plain stupid. Then there's Lily Dale, abandoned in an earlier installment by her lover in favor of a wealthier woman. Devoted not only to him but to her role as martyr, she refuses the love of a good man, refuses to marry the now-widowed lover, and takes a vow reflected in her diary: "Lily Dale: Old Maid."By now, you're probably wondering why I didn't hate this novel. Well, while all of these characters are maddening, somehow Trollope also manages to makes their trials and tribulations quite intriguing. And at least one of them gets his or her comeuppance. Trollope weaves in several subplots as well, inlcuding that of Grace Crawley, a young woman as principled as her father who refuses the proposal of the man she loves, reluctant to tie his family to her father's possible shame. And John Eames, who has loved Lily Dale forever. There are plenty of other characters to admire, among them those trying to help the beleaguered Mr. Crawley. (Most memorable is the goodhearted lawyer Mr. Toogood.)As others have mentioned, the subplot surrounding John Eames's friend, the painter Conrad Darymple, doesn't quite fit. Perhaps it's true that Trollope stuck it in to come up with the number of pages required by his publisher. Nevertheless, The Last Chronicle of Barsetshire is an entertaining and engaging book, a fitting conclusion to Trollope's delightful six-volume chronicles.
    • 5/5
      The end of Barset! I'm a bit saddened to leave Barsetshire behind, but it's been a good run.The last chronicle has been as enjoyable as any, but I'm not sure there was any need to introduce new characters. The Dalrymple/Broughton etc. storyline was entertaining enough, but who are these people? I would rather have been brought up to date on the Greshams, the Luftons or the Thornes. Lily Dale. Ugh. I'm glad that she had the opportunity to see Crosbie and realize how horribly stupid she had been about him. I'm glad she finally got rid of boring old Johnny Eames. (Really, if you don't find someone sexually attractive, just don't marry him, no matter what your friends think.) But if she's so pretty, why, in the couple of months she spent gadding around London, did Trollope not find her someone suitable? Jeeze, give the girl a break.As for the Crawley plot, it was kind of boring in a way, yet offers an opportunity for Trollope to riff on his favourite subject: what makes a truly good man? Crawley is eccentric, but his internal soul searching is fascinating, at least to me. This is where Trollope shines as a novelist.
    • 5/5
      The last of a set of 6 books set in and around barset. In the book rev cawley is accused of theft. All of the old characters are there woven cleverly into the storyline. Wonderful characterisations. Very funny in parts. Brilliant book
    • 5/5
      Wonderful distraction from 21st century realities! Great fun from the Victorian era.
    • 5/5
      I think Anthony Trollope drew beautiful characters- not beautiful in their perfection, but in an honesty regarding humanity. They are consistent personalities and his storylines are interesting without being overly dramatic (minus Madelina of course).

      I think he is too repetitious and sometimes his descriptions carry on, but I can say it has done my soul good to live through birth and loss and gain and death with these “people.” Their example in good and bad have engaged my conscience and caused me to pause and consider many times. Watching them has given me opportunity to practice virtue in my imagination in ways that didactic teaching just cannot touch.

      I will miss them.