Trollope's witty, satirical story of a quiet cathedral town shaken by scandal — as the traditional values of Septimus Harding are attacked by zealous reformers and ruthless newspapers — is a drama of conscience that pits individual integrity against worldly ambition. In The Warden Anthony Trollope brought the fictional county of Barsetshire to life, peopled by a cast of brilliantly realised characters that have made him among the supreme chroniclers of the minutiae of Victorian England. It is the first book in The Chronicles of Barsetshire, and its sequel is Barchester Towers, also available in The Collector's Library.