Chronicles of Barsetshire #4
When Framley Parsonage appeared in 1860, its immediate popularity made Trollope's name and gained him the large reading public which he was never to lose.The setting of the story was close to the hearts of many readers at the time who followed each installment in the "Cornhill" and learned about the intricate life of the professional and landed classes in Barsetshire.
The main figure in the novel is Mark Robarts, a young clergyman, who offends his patroness (Lady Lufton) and other upholders of tradition, by allowing himself to be influenced by the disreputable Duke of Ommnium and the unscrupulous Mr Sowerby, and is persuaded to enter into various kinds of unsuitable activities including hunting and dubious financial transactions. The situation is all the more unfortunate as Lord Lufton, the son of Lady Lufton, wishes to marry Mark's sister Lucy. Lady Lufton vigorously opposes the marriage but Lucy faces her hostility with an appealing strength and vivacity.
Trollope protrayed his characters with great subtlety, showing how the old values of the Barsetshire community were being underminded by the new, more vulgar 'fast set'. Framley Parsonage is the fourth of the six Chronicles of Barsetshire.