Penguin Classics presents Anthony Trollope's Barchester Towers, adapted for listening and now available as a digital audiobook as part of the Penguin English Library series. The text is expertly read by the actor David Timson.

"What to come here a stranger, a young, unknown, and unfriended stranger, and tell us, in the name of the bishop his master, that we are ignorant of our duties, old-fashioned, and useless!"

Trollope's comic masterpiece of plotting and backstabbing opens as the Bishop of Barchester lies on his deathbed. Soon a pitched battle breaks out over who will take power, involving, among others, the zealous reformer Dr Proudie, his fiendish wife, and the unctuous schemer Obadiah Slope.

Barchester Towers is the second (as well as the most loved) book in Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire series, which captures 19th century provincial England with wit, worldly wisdom, and an unparalleled gift for characterization.

Part of a series of vintage recordings taken from the Penguin archives, the Penguin English Library series offers affordable, collectable, quality productions that are perfect for on-the-go listening.