The Last Chronicle of Barset

The Last Chronicle of Barset is the sixth, and as its title would suggest, final novel in Anthony Trollope’s Chronicles of Barsetshire. Like the earlier books, it was serialized in Cornhill Magazine, with a hardcover edition coming out in 1867. It brings together many of the characters who had appeared in series’ earlier novels, and rounds off a number of story threads that those novels began.

The primary storyline is concerned with the Reverend Josiah Crawley, who, as the book opens, has been accused of passing a check for twenty pounds, a check not made out to himself and whose possession he cannot account for. The accusation has significant implications for many of the other characters.

The Last Chronicle of Barset was made into a television series released by the BBC in 1959. Along with the other novels in the series, it was made into a radio play released by Radio 4 in the United Kingdom in the 1990s.