BARCHESTER TOWERS

With his "Barsetshire" series, set in a fictitious west-country county, Anthony Trollope established the novel sequence in English letters. BARCHESTER TOWERS, the second book in the series, concerns the struggle for diocesan control between the archdeacon's cunning chaplain and the wife of the new bishop. Very funny stuff--to Victorians. Narrator Timothy West has the technique, versatility and sense of place to give a fine, idiomatic performance, but not quite the strength of personality to make us give a hoot about the characters and their concerns. Y.R. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 00]