Anthony Trollope

Ralph the Heir.

When Reverend Josiah Crawley, the impoverished curate of Hogglestock, is accused of theft it causes public scandal, sending shockwaves through the world of Barsetshire. The Crawley family desperately try to remain dignified while they are shunned by society, but the scandal threatens to tear them, and the community, apart.

'Of course there was a Great House at Allington. How otherwise should there have been a small house?' The Great House is home to Squire Dale, the Small House to his widowed sister-in-law, Mrs Dale, and her tow unmarried daughters, Lily and Bell. Both girls have two suitors: in Lily's case John Eames, a junior civil servant and 'hobbledehoy', and Adolphus Crosbie, a more senior civil servant and 'swell', in Bell's case Dr Crofts, the worthy but impecunious local doctor, and Captain Bernard Dale, her cousin and Squire Dale's heir.The sisters present a complete contrast in matters of the heart: while Lily quickly falls in love with Crosbie and accepts his proposal of marriage, Bell is far more reserved in her feelings. Meanwhile, Eames becomes entangled with the daughter of the woman who keeps the boarding-house where he lives. With a host of memorable and beautifully described characters, The Small House at Allington is a true classic of Victorian literature.

Framley Parsonage, the fourth book in the Barchester series, was perhaps the book that finally sealed Anthony Trollope's reputation as a novelist of the first order. Mark Robarts is a clergyman with ambitions beyond his small country parish of Framley. In a naive attempt to mix in influential circles, he agrees to guarantee a bill for a large sum of money for the disreputable local Member of Parliament, while being helped in his career in the Church by the same hand. But the unscrupulous politician reneges on his financial obligations, and Mark must face the consequences this debt may bring to his family.