Inspired by a stroll around Salisbury Cathedral, The Warden centres on Reverend Harding and his youngest daughter Eleanor. It tells, with gentle humour and subtle satire, of the moral dilemma he faces when accused of living on the funds that should be distributed to the almshouse to which he has been appointed warden.

Inspired by a stroll around Salisbury Cathedral, The Warden centres on Reverend Harding and his youngest daughter Eleanor. It tells, with gentle humour and subtle satire, of the moral dilemma he faces when accused of living on the funds that should be distributed to the almshouse to which he has been appointed warden.

One of his chief critics is John Bold, a zealous, passionate young man who makes the injustice, as he sees it, known to the press. Eleanor is in love with Bold and he returns her affection but she would sacrifice him to save her father from shame and mortification. Urged to fight the charge by his son-in-law Dr Grantly, Harding wants to act courageously but in a way that will not alienate Eleanor or her lover.

The first of the much-loved Chronicles of Barsetshire, The Warden is a sympathetic account of a man struggling to do his best when society proves unbending.

I  Hiram’s Hospital

II  The Barchester Reformer

III The Bishop of Barchester

IV  Hiram’s Bedesmen

V  Dr Grantly Visits the Hospital

VI  The Warden’s Tea Party

VII The Tupiter

VIII Plumstead Episcopi

IX  The Conference

X  Tribulation

XI  Iphigenia

XII Mr Bold’s Visit to P]umstead

XIII The Warden’s Decision

XIV Mount Olympus

XV  Tom Towers, Dr Anticant, and Mr Sentiment

XVI A Long Day in London

XVII Sir Abraham Haphazard

XVIII The Warden is very Obstinate

XIX  The Warden Resigns

XX  Farewell

XXX  Conclusion