The Last Chronicle of Barset

Simon Vance brings the characters so vividly to life that you will begin to feel as if you know them as well as you do your friends and neighbors. The Last Chronicle is a vivid portrait of personality, written with great humor and compassion and a very compelling listening experience. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, except that one suffers withdrawal symptoms after finishing it! The narration and the writing are among the best I have ever encountered and I have been an avid reader for decades. My teenaged son also got very engrossed in the Audible version - the book has value for a wide variety of readers.

Simon Vance performs a truly amazing narration of one of Trollope's best books. Vance gives to each character a distinctive voice; none is campy or too affected, and each is appropriate to the character. Highly recommended.

As with all the other Barsetshire novels, Simon Vance made these stories passionate, suspenseful and more delicious than any group of novels I have read in years. I am now a really big SImon Vance fan and I am waiting for him to read Trollope's Palliser novels next! If you have any affection for mid-Victorian literature you are missing a treat if you don't hear Simon Vance's Barsetshire Chronicles.

I just want to reiterate what others have already said: Simon Vance is a great reader, and these Trollope novels are a real treat. Trollope is a crafty writer, giving all the appearance of just dashing off whatever he "remembers" about the incidents of the current tale while all the time weaving together a very satisfying and well-constructed narrative that feels as much like reality as you could like. He is only concerned with the doings of the gentry class for the most part, but they have enough troubles and cares within their insular world to make the telling of it interesting -- and they talk so beautifully! You Jane Austen fans could do a lot worse than Trollope if you are looking for someone to feed your need for good, clever, intelligent prose.