Framley Pasrsonage by Anothony Trollope is the 4th book in the Chronicles of Barcetshire. In this book we meet some of the inhabitants of Eastern Barcetshire, Lady Lufton and her son Lord Lufton, and the vicar she has given a living to, Mark Robarts. Mark was a school friend of her son's who she took under her patronage. She even found him a lovely wife, Fanny. Now at about the age of 25 he is married, has a job as clergy, having all his life been obedient and compliant to his father and his patron. But, alas, he goes astray. He has ambitions of moving in higher circles, so against Lady Lufton's good judgment, he allows himself to become entangled with Mr. Sowerby, a debonair lawyer chronically in debt and with the bad habit of exploiting his friends for money. Mr. Sowerby is almost the undoing of Mark.
There are several plot lines going and we meet new people but also revisit many people from before, most enjoyably Miss Dunstable. But we also re-encounter Archdeacon Grantly and his wife Susan, Mr. and Mrs. Arabin, and the Bishop and Mrs. Proudie. There are several romances going on, all at different levels of actual affection and social climbing. But the sweetest and main romance is between Lord Lufton and Mark's youngest sister, Lucy.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It is full of wisdom and gentle humor and rings true in how the author depicts the foibles and failings, nobleness and fortitude of all the various characters. There is a lot of satirizing of contemporary to Trollope's time politics. I had trouble understanding exactly what this was all about and found the notes at the end of the book highly valuable. Trollope loves throwing in a Latin quote or two and lots of references (in a tongue in cheek way) to Roman mythology. The end notes helped with all that. My Kindle edition was Oxford World's Classic, edited by Katherine Mullin and Francis O'Gorman.
Two thumbs up! For more book reviews, go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
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