Part of Chronicles of Barsetshire, book 1
First published 1998
Mr. Harding, a gentle cathedral warden, manages a charitable hospital for elderly workers in Barchester. When a local reformer challenges the institution's generous endowment, Harding finds himself at the center of a moral and legal storm. Young John Bold launches a passionate newspaper campaign questioning the warden's substantial annual income, transforming a quiet administrative dispute into a public spectacle. Harding must choose between defending his comfortable position and confronting the uncomfortable truths about the hospital's finances. His daughter Eleanor fiercely defends her father, while the local clergy and community watch with increasing tension. At stake is not just Harding's reputation, but the delicate social fabric of their provincial world.
Genres: fiction, classics, classic-literature, historical-fiction, british-literature, 19th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: moral-conflict, small-town
Setting: England
Period: 19th-Century
336 pages · Paperback · Oxford University Press