Barchester Towers

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Mrs Proudie, the warlike wife of the new Bishop of Barchester, brings the Reverend Slope into the Bishop's Palace to help dominate her husband and rule the local clergy. But Slope is a snake in the grass, determined to find a rich wife, to win advancement for himself, even to fight Mrs Proudie if necessary.

Their battle becomes a furious dance, involving rich, pretty Widow Bold, angry Archdeacon Grantly, man-eating Signora Neroni, gentle Mr Harding, confused Parson Quiverful and his fourteen noisy children.

This classic comic story is Trollope's most famous novel.

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Anthony Trollope

#Зарубежная литература #Зарубежная классика #Зарубежная образовательная литература

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BARCHESTER TOWERS

In the great cathedral cities of England, the church and politics go hand in hand. The government appoints the bishop, who is the head of the church in that city, and below him come archdeacons, deans, vicars, parsons, chaplains – all kinds of clergymen, of differing degrees of rank, importance, influence, and income.

All this is complicated enough, but the appointment of Dr Proudie as the new Bishop of Barchester overturns the old established order in that peaceful city, and a struggle for power begins against the new bishop’s wife, the fearsome Mrs Proudie. And when you also add to the mixture the new bishop’s chaplain, the oily and ambitious Obadiah Slope, you have a recipe for war.

And as well as the struggle for power in the church, there is also the game of love, which is played by very different rules, according to the player. Mrs Eleanor Bold, a pretty young widow, believes in honest and truthful ways of dealing with people, but she does not always understand the deceitful ways of men. The Signora Madeline Neroni, on the other hand, understands men only too well, and her beauty and her wit and her charm draw men to her, like flies into a spider’s web …

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First published in Oxford Bookworms 2006

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ISBN: 978 0 19 479254 7

Printed in Hong Kong

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Photographs are from the BBC TV production The Barchester Chronicles and are reproduced by courtesy of BBC. They feature Alan Rickman, Geraldine McEwan, Clive Swift, Janet Maw, Susan Hampshire, and Peter Blythe

Word count (main text): 29,520 words

For more information on the Oxford Bookworms Library, visit www.oup.com/elt/bookworms

e-Book ISBN 978 0 19 463033 7

e-Book first published 2015

PEOPLE IN THIS STORY

IN BARCHESTER

Dr Proudie, Bishop of Barchester

Mrs Proudie, the bishop’s wife

Olivia Proudie, the bishop’s eldest daughter

Mr Obadiah Slope, the bishop’s chaplain

Dr Trefoil, Dean of Barchester

Mr Septimus Harding, once warden of Hiram’s Hospital

Eleanor Bold, Mr Harding’s younger daughter and a widow

Johnny Bold, Eleanor’s baby son

Mary Bold, Eleanor’s sister-in-law

Dr Vesey Stanhope, a clergyman

Bertie Stanhope, Dr Stanhope’s son

Charlotte Stanhope, Dr Stanhope’s elder daughter

Madeline Stanhope, also called Signora Neroni, Dr Stanhope’s younger daughter

AT PLUMSTEAD

Dr Grantly, the archdeacon

Susan Grantly, Mr Harding’s elder daughter and the archdeacon’s wife

Mr Francis Arabin, an Oxford clergyman

AT PUDDINGDALE

Mr Quiverful, a poor country vicar

Mrs Quiverful, his wife

AT ULLATHORNE

Mr Thorne, the squire of Ullathorne

Miss Thorne, the squire’s sister

Lady de Courcy, a titled neighbour of the Thornes

PART ONE: WAR IN BARCHESTER

The new bishop

During the last ten days of July in the year 1852, in the ancient cathedral city of Barchester, a most important question was asked every hour and answered every hour in different ways–’Who is to be the new bishop?’

Old Dr Grantly, who had for many years occupied the bishop’s chair, was dying, just as the government of the country was about to change. The bishop’s son, Archdeacon Grantly, had recently taken on many of his father’s duties, and it was fairly well understood that the present prime minister would choose him as the new bishop. It was a difficult time for the archdeacon. The prime minister had never promised him the post in so many words, but those who know anything of government will be well aware that encouragement is often given by a whisper from a great man or one of his friends. The archdeacon had heard such a whisper, and allowed himself to hope.

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