The Warden

By: Anthony Trollope

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Anthony Trollope's classic novel centers on Mr. Harding, a clergyman of great personal integrity whose charitable income far exceeds the purpose for which it was intended. On discovering this, young John Bold turns his reforming zeal toward exposing what he regards as an abuse of privilege, despite the fact that he is in love with Mr. Harding's daughter, Eleanor. Set in the world of the Victorian professional and landed classes he portrayed so superbly, Trollope explores the complexities of human motivation and social morality.

The Warden is the first of the six classic Chronicles of Barsetshire novels, Trollope's best-loved and most famous work.

Don't miss the sequel, Barchester Towers (Unabridged).

(P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Finalist, Classic, 2007

"Critics found The Warden a new voice among novelists; the book was acclaimed as clever, spirited, and promising much for the author's future as a writer of significance."(Donald Smalley, Anthony Trollope: The Critical Heritage)

Every bit the equal of Dickens,

In presenting the majesty and grandeur of the English language, but without the sometimes heavy moral bludgeoning of the Great Liberal Reformer, Instead, this more subtle tale is presented with a sardonic flair that reminded me of Americans Clemens and Bierce and even Tobias Smollet’s Incomparable translation of Cervantes. I just hate that I will now have to spend more credits on yet another Master of English Letters when Hardy, Dickens, Fielding and others are already queued up in my Wish List. Superior job by Simon Vance!.

Vance reads very well

Trollope’s humor and social commentary are both nonpareil, but the reading by Simon Vance makes for a great experience. Vance is clear, articulate, and animated. He voices the individual characters well and delivers Trollope’s humor with a delightful tongue in cheek deadpan. Looking forward to the rest in the series.

Terrible reading of a great book!

How could the performance have been better?

I love Trollope and am usually not at all picky about the performances of recorded books, but I found this reading of The Warden unbearable! Simon Vance adopts a strange, high-pitched, affected tone of voice every time he reads the women's lines that makes Trollope's female characters come across as gross caricatures. The gentle but always intelligent Eleanor Harding sounded like a half-witted flirt, Mrs. Grantly sounded like a snooty society matron instead of a sensible clergyman's wife, and the love scenes were absolutely painful! Mr. Vance is a very good reader generally, and if only he could have rendered the female characters in a more natural tone of voice this would have been a fine and worthy reading. I switched to the Timothy West reading for the remainder of the Basetshire Chronicles, and am so glad I did. I really don't think I could have stood a simpering Mary Thorne!!

I read it on recommendation, and it was okay.

I didn't love it. I didn't hate it.

It's got the style of it's time down pat but without the easy humor of some of my favorite Dickens novels.

It's sort of like reading a Shakespeare contemporary, you can see the structure, but somehow it's not quite as good.

It will make you laugh, if you're a fan of the style, but it's not "ha ha" funny in the modern American way.

A great favorite as far as book and narrator

Trollope stands above all other writers and The Warden I hold to be his best work. Actually I find the meat of the Victorian novel (ie: The dilemma of who can marry whom in the constant go-round of title vs wealth) to be tedious. The Warden unlike the other Barchester novels touches on that issue only mildly. The writing is unparalleled for a pinpointing perception and a quiet beauty even though the author is not dealing with earth-shaking events. There is much to be learned for one, like me, who doesn't know in depth English society of the Victorian era And it's a revelation to find this time whose technology seems a Stone Age comparing to current times is, in essence, very similar to our own time. If I didn't know better I would think I was reading in the description of the scope and power of "The Jupiter" a synopsis of the control upon us today of a media far more advanced and far-reaching. I agree with another reviewer that Simon Vance's female voice characterizations are annoying, but otherwise I can't think of a better narrator....except maybe Allan Corduner

A small, quiet book that, if you like it, will open the huge world of Trollope

This was the first Trollope novel I read about 30 years ago, and this version read by Simon Vance reminds me of just how much I’ve loved this author since. For the holidays, I’ve decided to finally “reread” the Barsetshire Novels (or Barchester Chronicles as they’re also known), and this quick and easy introduction to the landscape was as enjoyable this time as the first. (For those who find 19th century sentences too long to figure out what’s going on and the irony too orotund to appreciate, I recommend reading along while listening, at least for the first few chapters. These books are all in the public domain and available online at Project Gutenberg.)

the Warden

excellent book and narration. Trollope does indeed rival Dickens in narrative and vocabulary. Vance narrates well without becoming the focus himself.

my first Trollope but not the last

Good story. A classic in the classic-but-not-Dickens sense. Good narration, even on the females. I'm continuing the series, so it must be good.

Great storytellers!

Both author AnthonyTrollope and narrator, Simon Vance, are wonderful storytellers. I first read this in print a few years back and didn’t realize how much I had missed (especially of the satire), until I listened to this version.
If you’re looking for a fast-paced yarn, this isn’t it. Instead, it is a social satire—sometimes broad satire, sometimes very subtle—focussed on the drama surrounding one man’s conscience. It is an incisive portrait of human failings, funny, but also kind and with a touch of sadness. By one of the greatest Victorian novelists.

amazing descriptions

This book has a fairly simple storyline that can be summed up in a page. The real reason to listen to it is the flowery description of Trollope. His words are like a vived color TV in a world of black and white. looking forward to reading the next in the series