The Warden

In the cathedral city of Barchester, Rev. Septimus Harding serves as warden of Hiram's Hospital, an almshouse founded to care for twelve elderly wool-carders. He is not a wicked man. He says his prayers, plays his violoncello, and means no harm to anyone. But when young idealist John Bold discovers that Harding receives hundreds of pounds while the men under his care receive only pennies, he sees only injustice. Bold launches a reform campaign to expose the imbalance, unaware that he's threatening not a villain but a gentle old man, and not just any man - the father of the woman he loves. Trollope's genius lies in refusing to give us villains: the reformer is earnest, the warden is decent, and the truth sits somewhere in the uncomfortable middle. This is a novel about how good intentions collide with messy reality, and how much easier it is to demand justice than to understand it.