Customer Reviews
What makes a gentleman? - By: Didier, 07 Apr 2008 
In this fourth novel of the Barsetshire Chronicles Trollope entertwines two main storylines. The first centers on Mark Robarts who has recently, & at an uncommonly young age, become vicar at Framley. He has a doting wife & children, a loving patronessin Lady Framley, & a good friendin her son Lord Lufton. Things could not be going better for Mark Robarts it seems, but then he gets carried away by his success. He starts to mixin high circles & with politicians, & before he fully well realizes what's happening finds himselfin debt to the scheming politician Sowerby, with financial & social ruin threatening. The second storyline is about Lucy Robarts, Marks' younger sister living with him at Framley parsonage. She'sin trouble too: she has fallenin love with Lord Lufton & he with her, but Lady Lufton firmly opposes the match, & Lucy - out of a sense of pride - rejects Lord Lufton & says she will not take his hand unless his mother asks her to accept it.
This may not seem much to write more than 500 pages about, but Trollope does so brilliantly & keeps you engaged throughout. As always he concentrates on the inner life of his characters, & their thoughts & feelings are describedin great detail. As often with Trollope too, you have the feeling from the very start thatin the end all will turn out well for Lucy & Mark, but this too (strangely so perhaps) doesn'tin the least diminish one's appetite for reading on. 'Framley Parsonage' is mainly a reflection on the qualities of a gentleman, & the changing perception of suchin Victorian times where birth & rank still counted for a lot, coupled with a growing belief that it is first & foremost moral standing & behaviour that really makes a gentleman.
I found 'Framley Parsonage' a very absorbing read, superbin its depiction of country lifein Victorian times. Definitely the sort of book where you cannot help but read on, simultaneously anxious that the end is drawing ever nearer. Luckily there's still two novels to goin the series, & I immediately started the fifth novel ('The small house at Allington').
"Oh, why do I have to be ambitious?" - By: Mary Whipple, 05 Mar 2008 The fourth of the Chronicles of Barsetshire, Framley Parsonage (1861) is a gentle novel filled with memorable characters, including many characters who from The Warden, Barchester Towers, & Dr. Thorne. Mark Robarts, a young vicar with a devoted wife, has a comfortable situation at Framley Parsonage on the estate of the indomitable Lady Lufton. Her son, now Lord Lufton, had been a friend of Mark Robarts at school, & it was their friendship which resultedin Mark's position. Mark, though conscientiousin his duties & grateful for his situation, is ambitious, however, anxious to expand his horizons beyond Framley.
Lady Lufton, who rules with an iron hand, is appalled when Mark decides to spend a weekend with a "fast" crowd, one which he believes can advance his career. Young & naïve, he becomes the dupe of an aristocratic "con-man," an MP named Nathaniel Sowerby, who persuades him to help him out of a financial jam by signing a note for five hundred pounds (more than half Robarts's yearly salary), allowing Sowerby to draw funds on Robarts's name. Though Sowerby swears he will resolve the problem within weeks, he needs an additional four hundred pounds when the note comes due.
In the meantime, Robarts's sister Lucy arrives at Framley Parsonage upon the death of their father. Lucy, a sweet ingénuein mourning, soon comes to the attention of Lord Lufton, who is fascinated by her naivete, a marked contrast with the women he has known to date. Though Lady Lufton has much more "significant" matrimonial prospectsin mind for her son, the courtship begins, & though Lucy declines Lord Lufton's initial proposal, she remainsin love with him. As Robarts's financial miseries become more pressing, & as Lucy's misery at having turned down Lord Lufton increases, the scene is set for a final showdown.
Numerous peripheral characters, many of them known to readers of the series, add to the drama of the primary action. The implacable dowager Lady Lufton, wishing to maintain her family's social position, staunchly opposes the Duke's relationship with Lucy Robarts, pushing Griselda Grantly, daughter of Archbishop Grantly, as the Duke's suitor. The competition between the (Archdeacon) Grantlys & the (Bishop) Proudies for suitors for their daughters adds great comic relief to the story, & the internecine manipulations among the clergy provide gentle satirein a novel which seems to be remarkably domesticin its focus.
Trollope provides a full picture of Victorian life, representing many aspects of society, & though his view of the clergy hasin earlier novels been a bit jaded, he is sympathetic to many of its representativesin this novel, seeing them as humans, rather than as types. A sweet novel, part love story & part social commentary, Framley Parsonage is a charming novel, memorable for its characters & picture of Victorian England. Mary Whipple
