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A review by melslostinabook
The Warden by Anthony Trollope
5.0
The Warden, being the first book in The Chronicles of Barsetshire, was my first Anthony Trollope book and I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
This story centers around the Church of England and characters in the small-town villages of England, namely Barsetshire. The Warden, Septimus Harding, a pious widower and a clergyman in the local parish church, comes under scrutiny and downright attack when his friend, an activist and reformer, begins looking into the misapplication of church funds and strives to expose these misappropriations.
Mr. Harding is also the warden of an almshouse in his parish that houses 12 old, ailing men, and his job is to oversee their needs, primarily that they receive adequate food, clothing, and healthcare. The inner turmoil and struggles that Mr. Harding faces, as he seeks to determine if his income for the job he performs is more than what was stipulated in the almshouse founder’s will, is the ensuing result of John Bold’s proclamation.
I loved Mr. Harding, with his humility and morality, and his daughter, Eleanor, who encouraged her father to follow his conscience. This book has a great cast of characters, really. I loved that Trollope based his story on reality, too, how he wrote about the Church of England, how it was the beneficiary of financial gifts from deceased church members and how over time, the church ended up distributing the majority of these funds in salaries to clergyman, setting them up to live like aristocrats, while the charities these funds were originally intended for ended up getting very little of the money and assistance. All in all, a very agreeable read for me and I can’t wait to read the next book in the series!
This story centers around the Church of England and characters in the small-town villages of England, namely Barsetshire. The Warden, Septimus Harding, a pious widower and a clergyman in the local parish church, comes under scrutiny and downright attack when his friend, an activist and reformer, begins looking into the misapplication of church funds and strives to expose these misappropriations.
Mr. Harding is also the warden of an almshouse in his parish that houses 12 old, ailing men, and his job is to oversee their needs, primarily that they receive adequate food, clothing, and healthcare. The inner turmoil and struggles that Mr. Harding faces, as he seeks to determine if his income for the job he performs is more than what was stipulated in the almshouse founder’s will, is the ensuing result of John Bold’s proclamation.
I loved Mr. Harding, with his humility and morality, and his daughter, Eleanor, who encouraged her father to follow his conscience. This book has a great cast of characters, really. I loved that Trollope based his story on reality, too, how he wrote about the Church of England, how it was the beneficiary of financial gifts from deceased church members and how over time, the church ended up distributing the majority of these funds in salaries to clergyman, setting them up to live like aristocrats, while the charities these funds were originally intended for ended up getting very little of the money and assistance. All in all, a very agreeable read for me and I can’t wait to read the next book in the series!