Shelf Control #31: The Last Chronicle of Barset

Wednesday, the 23rd of January, and time once again for Shelf Control. This is a weekly feature hosted by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies, and celebrates the books on your TBR pile. To participate, pick any book from your TBR pile, write a post about it, and link back to Lisa’s blog. Do also share your links in the comments below as I’d love to read about your picks.

As I’d mentioned last week, for the rest of January, in keeping with my ‘theme’ this month, I’ll be writing about some of the oldest books on my TBR pile in this feature (last week’s post is here). This week, my pick is Anthony Trollope’s The Last Chronicle of Barset. This is the second time I’m writing about a Trollope book in this feature (the other, The Eustace Diamonds I wrote about here). The Last Chronicle of Barset is the sixth and final book in Trollope’s Barsetshire series. Barsetshire is a fictional English county created by Trollope. Novelist Angela Thirkell also set many of her works in Barsetshire.

The story: The Reverend Josiah Crawley, the impoverished curate of Hogglestock is accused of theft, more specifically of stealing a cheque, causing a public scandal. How the community and others react to this forms the rest of the story. Crawley if I remember right, is also not the most likeable of people. Of course, this isn’t all that this almost 900 page tome deals with. There are romances, several other subplots, and we also catch up with characters we have met previously in Barsetshire and see what has become of them.

The author: Anthony Trollope, born in 1815, worked in the British Postal Department. He also wrote forty-seven novels (besides short stories), including the Barsetshire and Paliser series, and standalones like The Way We Live Now, He Knew He Was Right, and Orley Farm. 

Trollope, Napoleon Sarony [Public domain] via wikimedia commons

My copy: I downloaded a copy via Project Gutenberg as Trollope’s works are in public domain. (Find his works here).

Why I want to read it: I’ve read the first five books in the series, and enjoyed them and really want to see how it wraps up. There was especially one story thread left dangling in the previous instalment, The Small House at Allington, and I wanted to see how that is resolved. Also I enjoy Trollope’s storytelling. Even when one knows the answer to some questions (like in Orley Farm) he can keep one interested and reading right through. Which is quite something considering most of his novels are doorstoppers!

Have you read this one or any others in the series? Or any books by Trollope other than these? Or do you plan o read any? Which ones and if you’ve read them, how did you like them? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!