When John Bold decides to challenge corruption in the Church of England he sets the whole town of Barchester by the ears with consequences both comic and sad. Trollope's first masterpiece is the study of conflicting loyalties and principles in a cathedral city where the gentle warden becomes an unwilling focus of national controversy. The resulting story is both a fine comedy of manners and a magnificent group portrait. THE WARDEN is the first novel of the Barsetshire series.