Barchester Towers

A change of bishop unsettles the cathedral city of Barchester. Archdeacon Grantly expects the vacant office to remain within the familiar High Church circle, but political change brings Bishop Proudie instead. The new bishop arrives with two forceful influences: his domineering wife, Mrs. Proudie, and his ambitious chaplain, Obadiah Slope.

The wardenship of Hiram's Hospital becomes an early battlefield. Septimus Harding, gentle former warden and central figure of The Warden, is drawn into arguments conducted in his name by people far more eager for victory. Slope treats patronage as a path to power and turns his attention toward Harding's widowed daughter, Eleanor Bold, whose money and independence attract several competing plans.

Other arrivals multiply the social comedy. The long-absent Stanhope family returns from Italy, including the charismatic Signora Madeline Neroni and her impractical brother Bertie. Reverend Francis Arabin joins Grantly's side and develops feelings for Eleanor, but rumor persuades her relatives that she intends to marry Slope. Private affection becomes almost impossible to separate from church politics.

Anthony Trollope builds Barchester Towers from conversations, misunderstandings, appointments, and shifting alliances. No theological dispute remains abstract once income, marriage, family loyalty, or reputation is involved. The narrator's irony exposes vanity across factions but leaves room for kindness, especially in Harding's reluctance to convert moral authority into personal advantage.