Anthony Trollope
50 episodes listed below
Barsetshire takes its final, exacting bow.
This public-domain audiobook carries Trollope’s Barsetshire world through its last reckonings. Its pleasures are patient and moral: letters, livings, reputations, court shadows, and marriages arranged under the pressure of family, church, and pride.
PRESS PLAY
This show is a serialized public-domain audiobook of Anthony Trollope’s The Last Chronicle of Barset. It is not built around interviews, banter, or topical commentary. Its center is the old-fashioned pleasure of being read a large social novel, chapter by chapter, with the plot advancing through conscience, embarrassment, family pressure, and church politics. The recent episodes arrive as the story approaches its settlement. Mr. Crawley’s ordeal has loosened, but the consequences of accusation still hang over his household. Grace Crawley’s future with Henry Grantley becomes a question not merely of affection, but of reputation, timing, fathers, mothers, and the proprieties of marriage. That is the show’s natural scale. A parish living, a letter, a deathbed visit, or a breakfast after a wedding can hold as much drama as a public scandal. The narration gives space to those pressures. It lets pride explain itself before exposing its cost. It also preserves Trollope’s dry social comedy, especially when relatives behave as though household arrangements were matters of state. Mr. Harding’s decline brings a gentler register. His scenes with Posey and the family around him turn the novel from satire toward farewell. Elsewhere, John Eames’s rejected love for Lily Dale is handled with open feeling and wounded pride. The world is crowded, but not chaotic. Archdeacons, deans, wives, daughters, suitors, physicians, and widows all move within a moral order that is both humane and sharply observant. Listeners should expect a leisurely pace. They should also expect occasional modern advertising intrusions around some chapter openings and closings, which can briefly disturb the nineteenth-century atmosphere. The value lies in the sustained accumulation: by the conclusion, Barset feels less like a setting than a whole social climate. It is best for listeners who prefer classic fiction with patient sentences, formal speech, and consequences that unfold through duty rather than spectacle. Its distinction is not speed, novelty, or performance flourish. It is the careful carrying of a complicated fictional society to its last bow.
Made for: For listeners who like Victorian social fiction, clerical politics, slow-burn moral conflict, and audiobooks that reward patience. It will suit those who prefer character, conscience, and social consequence over brisk plotting.
What sets it apart: Its strength is the long continuity of Trollope’s fictional world: marriages, deaths, parish appointments, and accusations all matter because the society around them has been patiently built. The reading preserves that breadth, even when ad insertions briefly break the spell.
In this compelling rendition of Trollopes finest work, LibriVox reader Nicholas Clifford introduces us to the deeply flawed yet fascinating character of Josiah Crawley. This proud and tormented clergyman faces the grave consequences of his human weaknesses when he stands trial for the alleged theft of a twenty-pound cheque. The trial brings turmoil to his devoted family, particularly affecting his long-suffering wife, Mary, and their daughter, Grace, the novels romantic heroine. As Crawleys plight unfolds, he increasingly evokes the tragic figure of King Lear, lost in his own despair. Join us for a poignant exploration of pride, shame, and the...
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Nicholas Clifford's chapter-by-chapter reading preserves Trollope's intricate links between private feeling, public reputation, and church life.
Last Chronicle of Barset (version 2) presents Trollope's novel chapter by chapter, with Nicholas Clifford reading its crowded social world into audio. The later chapters keep returning to Mr.
Mr. Crawley won't reclaim his pulpit without the bishop's word; you'll want to argue with him.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A quiet chapter where duty, grief, and delayed reunion settle into place.
After Mr. Harding's death, Hogglestock settles into a quiet fortnight. Only Mr. Snapper appears on Sundays, and Mr. Crawley still will not resume duty without direct bishop's instruction.
A restrained conversation where holy places and worldly ambition press quietly against each other.
Mr Crawley and the dean settle into a quiet exchange about holy places, money, promotion, and the dean's sense that travel is out of reach. The scene does not hurry, and that is part of its force.
Parish duty, private concern, and a quiet shift in fortune do most of the work here.
Chapter 78 keeps its focus tight on a household waiting for word, with Mr Harding still confined to his bed at the deanery but attentive to Mr Crawley's case.
A final proposal turns gratitude and hesitation into a quietly tense exchange.
John Eames makes one last appeal to Lily with a mix of pride and need. He comes after saving her cousin, calls himself a paladin, and asks her to be his wife.
A measured conversation turns rumor into reality as Hook Court's tragedy settles in.
This chapter turns on a death announced through hesitation, correction, and polite dread. Madalena keeps the facts of Hook Court in view, amused by intrigue but forced into seriousness, while Eames moves from doubt to shock as Dobbs Broughton's untimely end settles in.
This episode concludes with a chapter from Anthony Trollope's novel 'The Last Chronicle of Barset', following advertisements for financial services, mattress sales, and a dating app.
In Chapter 83 of Anthony Trollope's novel, tensions rise as the Archdeacon awaits a reply from Mr.
Hogglestock is very still.
This is a chapter from Anthony Trollope's novel 'The Last Chronicle of Barset' where the elderly Mr.
John Eames grapples with the painful rejection from Lily Dale, trying to move on but ultimately breaking down in despair over his lost love.
Mr.
Mr Harding is ill at the deanery, and the sickroom has become a kind of parish office.
Advertisements frame the reading.
Madalena holds back the facts.
This episode features a Ben & Jerry's advertisement followed by a LibriVox recording of Chapter 42 from Anthony Trollope's novel 'The Last Chronicle of Barset', focusing on Mr.
Mr.
This episode features a chapter from Anthony Trollope's Victorian novel 'The Last Chronicle of Barset', focusing on characters preparing for artwork and John Eames returning to London to deal with social invitations and an urgent letter.
This episode features a reading from Chapter 37 of Anthony Trollope's novel 'The Last Chronicle of Barset', describing the business setting of Mr.
This episode explores Lily Dale's conflicted feelings about John Eames' absence and her unresolved emotions in a Victorian social context.