Chronicles of Barsetshire
The Chronicles of Barsetshire is a series of six novels by English author Anthony Trollope, published between 1855 and 1867. They are set in the fictional English county of Barsetshire and its cathedral town of Barchester. The novels concern the dealings of the clergy and the gentry, and the political, amatory, and social manoeuvrings among them.
| The Warden (1855) Barchester Towers (1857) Doctor Thorne (1858) Framley Parsonage (1860) The Small House at Allington (1862) The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867) | |
| Author | Anthony Trollope |
|---|---|
| Country | England, United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Victorian, Literary fiction |
| Publisher | Longmans Chapman and Hall Smith, Elder and Co. |
| Published | 1 January 1855 – 6 July 1867 (initial publication) |
| Media type | Print (Serial and Hardback) Audiobook E-Book |
| No. of books | 6 |
A series was not planned when Trollope began writing The Warden. Rather, after creating Barsetshire, he found himself returning to it as the setting for his following works. It was not until 1878, 11 years after The Last Chronicle of Barset, that these six novels were collectively published as the Chronicles of Barset.
This series is regarded by many as Trollope's finest work. Both modern and contemporary critics have praised the realism of Barsetshire and the intricacies of its characters. However, Trollope also received criticism, particularly for his plot development and the use of an intrusive narrative voice.
The series has been adapted for television in The Barchester Chronicles (1982) and Doctor Thorne (2016), and as dramatised radio programmes produced by BBC Radio 4.