Barchester Towers

10 Books Set in the English Countryside

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Give me a story set in an English village, inundated with curious characters and gentle descriptions of nature and musings about life- and you have me sold. Here in no particular order are some of my most favorite books set in rural idylls. I go to them, for comfort…

1) One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes

This is the story of a day in the life of a woman, set in the small coastal English village of Wealding. In the aftermath of the Second World War the English middle class are struggling to come to terms with their new life, less dependent on domestic help and trying to let go of the grandeur of the old days. This is a quiet contemplative novel which captures the beauty of the location. Despite not having much plot the story conveys a sense of longing and melancholy hard to capture in words.

 

2) Fairacre Festival by Miss Read

Dora Jessie Saint who wrote under the pen name of Miss Read captured the bucolic beauty of Cotswold villages and penned wonderfully human, simple stories that conveyed a sense of calm and goodwill. Tinged with a wry wit and the most wonderful characters, Miss Read’s ‘Fairacre‘ and ‘Thrush Green’ series are the height of comfort reading.

 

3) Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope

Tolstoy freely admitted that one of the influences in his writing were the novels of Victorian author Anthony Trollope. One of Trollope’s most famous series are the Barchester Chronicles– a set of six books set in the fictional rural county of Barsetshire. Apart from writing about nature and characters set in small towns and villages, Trollope wrote remarkably about money, social prejudice, politics and women with the most humane touch.

 

4) If Only They Could Talk by James Herriot

James Alfred Wight wrote semi-autobiographical novels under the name of James Herriot. A veterinary surgeon, he wrote about his work and personal life in the rolling hills and dales of Yorkshire. Though the work was often back breaking and hard, Herriot’s love for the location and the Yorkshire people freely emanate from each page. His books are a sheer delight.

 

5) Portrait of Elmbury by John Moore

Portrait of Elmbury published by Slightly Foxed is the first book in the rural trilogy, recounting the history of a small market town in England, named Elmbury. In this first book, the author John Moore describes his childhood and youth in the market village. How the village was hit by the aftermath of war, the poverty and declining conditions of the Depression era. The rural descriptions are particularly evocative of time and place.

 

6) Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell

Freely borrowing from Trollope’s fictional county of Barsetshire, nearly a century later Angela Thirkell wrote a long series of loosely linked novels that mapped the social history of a generation destabilized by the Second World War. Thirkell’s books are light and frothy but they capture a slice of history that is interesting to witness as a reader.

 

7) Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

Though some of Gaskell’s works are set in the city and beautifully depict the Industrial Revolution of Victorian times, Cranford is set in a rural location. The small country town of Cranford supposedly corresponds to Knutsford in Cheshire. Small country customs and the portrayal of wonderful human characters cover the scope of this novel.

 

8)Miss Buncle’s Book by DE Stevenson

Miss Buncle’s Book is delightful not only due to the unique plot but also the brilliant cast of characters set in a small country village. 30 something unmarried Barbara Buncle resorts to novel writing as a source of income. As she has no imagination whatsoever her book draws heavily upon the characters and incidents occurring in her village. And when the villagers discover the book and their own unmistakable, unflattering portrayal they are determined to hunt down the secret author.

 

9)A Month in the Country by JL Carr

In this story a young war veteran seeks occupation in the form of the restoration of a church mural in a sleepy, English village. Recovering from shell shock, the restoration of the religious mural is accompanied by the artist’s own reparation of spirit and sense of well being.

10) Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

Sailing holidays in the English Lake District, hunting for stolen treasure and camping on deserted islands- Ransome’s books abound with the charm of a time that was much safer and secure. The descriptions of the lake country will simply mesmerize you.

Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth Von Arnim, Illyrian Spring by Ann Bridge, Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons receive honourable mentions. Before I finish it would be remiss of me to omit the works of Thomas Hardy- the ultimate guru of pastoral literature.

Books that I intend to add to this list are George Eliot’s Middlemarch and the novels of Tolstoy. Let me know of your favourite books set in rural locations. I’d love to hear about them.

Barchester Towers and a Spot of #Trolloping

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It all started with Barbara Pym.

You might ask: what relation does Barbara Pym have to Anthony Trollope? You would be right in asking the question.

A few years ago, I read Excellent Women by Pym and immediately fell in love with her style of writing. On discovering she had not written many books, the research scholar in me decided to find ‘Pym-esque’ authors.

The search uncovered Angela Thirkell- described by Alexander McCall Smith as:

“perhaps the most Pym-like of any twentieth-century author, after Barbara Pym herself, of course.”

The setting of Thirkell’s novels, in the rural setting of provincial England, a fictitious place called Barsetshire made me aware of that county’s close relation- the original Barchester of Trollope’s novels.

To put a long story short, I came to Anthony Trollope quite by accident and in a roundabout way but I am very glad that this happy accident occurred.

I purchased the whole gamut of books that comprise the Chronicles of Barchester series and announced my intentions on Bookstagram (Instagram for Book Lovers). I was met with an overwhelming enthusiasm from Bookstagram friends and the Trollope Club (Just a Bunch of Trollopes) was born and along with it much discussion and merriment. We have a hashtag (#trolloping) and are currently reading our third book, Dt Thorne in July 2016.

But now to Barchester Towers, the book, itself.

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Barchester Towers takes us back to the hallowed precincts of the cathedral town of Barchester a few years after where ‘The Warden’ left off.

The position of Warden at Hiram’s Hospital is still unoccupied, the Bishop of Barchester is on his deathbed and John Bold has left for his heavenly abode.

In short, these three facts set up the series of events that form the majority of the plot of Barchester Towers.

Even before the Bishop has expired, several people are plotting to steal the Bishopric for themselves, even the Bishop’s son-the Archdeacon, Dr Grantly.

The bishopric falls into the hands of a Dr Proudie: a man in good standing with men in high positions in the government and incidentally endowed with an amazon of a wife. Mrs Proudie not only holds the strings of her household in her able hands, she also has first say in all matters related to her husband’s affairs, much to the chagrin of the clergy in Barchester. To add insult to injury, Bishop Proudie’s obnoxious chaplain, Mr Slope, decides to subject his parishioners to a lengthy lecture on various religious matters during his first sermon.

The clergy of Barchester, particularly Archdeacon Grantly, are up in arms against Mr Slope and Bishop Proudie and their combined reforms. Several members of clergy are called back to their religious duties in Barchester. One of them. Dr Stanhope has to return from the idyllic shores of Lake Como to take up his duties in his parish. The Stanhope family and their contingent of exotic characters bring a touch of foreign excitement to the goings-on in Barchester, particularly Dr Stanhope’s married, crippled, seductive daughter who takes up the title of Signora. Her brother, the lazy, good for nothing but charming Bertie Stanhope is looking for an easy way to relieve his debts.

He sets his cap at Eleanor Bold, who has been widowed for over a year due to the untimely demise of John Bold who was introduced to us in The Warden. Eleanor has quite a substantial annual income and though she can live quite comfortably with her infant son and sister-in-law, this income unfortunately enables her to fall prey to several bachelors who are looking for an easy way to acquire money.

Two bachelors, Bertie Stanhope and the slippery Mr Slope woo her to achieve their own ends- financial gain. A third- A Mr Arabin, a clergyman placed newly in charge of the small parish of St Ewolds, a great favourite of Archdeacon Grantly and rival of Mr Slope is also added to the mix and we have the recipe for great entertainment and drama.

However, Barchester Towers is more than just an elaborate marriage plot. We are introduced to a large cast of captivating characters, each with their own very distinct characteristics. For me the highlight of the story was the introduction to the excellent host of characters.

Trollope uses a very unusual form of narrative whilst telling the story. Frequent authorial intrusion led to the disruption of the otherwise smooth narration. However, the dialogue between author and reader led to several instances of comedic comment from Trollope. He also frequently tried to manipulate the reader to adopt his way of thinking. I cannot think of any other novel where I have witnessed so many authorial asides and interjections.

Without giving too much away, we have a very satisfying conclusion to the story, leading me to agree with the author that

“There is no happiness in love, except at the end of an English novel.”

 

Backstabbing, politics, humour, romance, conversation and  Victorian social etiquette combine very effectively  in this most excellent of novels, Barchester Towers.

I wonder, what will come next in the saga?