Orley Farm
Anthony Trollope
Read by Leonard Wilson
Orley Farm is Trollope at his best (as good as the Barsetshire series), which means some of the best characterizations in the English language. Trollope's people are real; the beleaguered Lady Mason, charged with forging a will; the aged lover Sir Peregrine Orme; Madeleine Stavely, deeply but practically in love; the shallow, fickle Sophia Furnival and others are 3-dimensional figures that live and breathe. His satire of the so-called "justice" system is the best kind of satire: he just describes the court proceedings as they really are. The result is as up-to-date as today's newspaper. (Introduction by Leonard Wilson) (32 hr 48 min)
Chapters
Reviews
One of his best works. Persevere through the slow scene setting.
Tone
Trollope is known for slow starts and in-depth character heavy analysis. This one in particular takes a lot of early chapters setting the scene with very detailed analysis of the history of the plot, the psychoanalysis and countenance of every character. Eventually it settles in around chapter 9. Then it becomes a fascinating legal novel of the machinations of the civil law, the skullduggery of the greedy grifting lawyers and the games played by opportunists in probate, inheritance and property law. I enjoyed it more than any of his other novels and the heavy praise from other top novelists is well deserved: The work has received high adulation from Virginia Woolf, George Eliot, Dickens, George Orwell as well as senior judges and law school professors both in Britain and in the USA, who have tagged it as one of the best Legal novels of all time and it is included on many Law school reading lists. If you enjoyed the Parliamentary novels of the Palliiser set, you will feast on this.
Trollope puts his characters through the wringer
Margaret87
Trollope takes us through the horrible situation a mother's obsession can put everyone. He presents the crime as altruism, but I see it as selfish, despite her subsequent sweetness and light and beauty. He also manipulates us regarding Mr Dockwrath's comeuppance but after all, for all his faults, as far as the case is concerned the lawyer did identify the fatal flaw. As for characters Trollope likes better, Trollope disarms me when he tells me how I should forgive this and that, asking who among us has no blemishes. However, despite these quibbles, I enjoyed every minute of this long story. Wonderful reading by Leonard Wilson. He has a very agreeable tone of voice and reads at a pace that allows the listener to hear, take in and understand what's happening. (I can't cope with being rushed off to the next point without pause.) Thank you all once again.
THIS DID NOT MAKE THE FAME OF TROLLOPE
AVID READER
His books are always slow, but this one is the slowest. It finally gains momentum around chapter 60. Thankfully the reader is one of the best, else I might have given up. One reader's comment deploring the lawyers of the England at that time rings hollow. Our group of ambulance chasers put them to shame.
Melanie
Pretty tedious. I slept and vacuumed through a lot of this, but a lot of the law narrative was interesting. Filled with repellent characters and tediously virtuous folks.
Betty
Great story (stories). I didn’t care so much for the character reading but in all honesty that is probably due to my generally not liking character readings.
I couldn't stop listening
Ada Ebbis
I loved this book! The story was engaging chapter after chapter and amazingly well written. I didn't want it to end.
Good book, excellent narrator
Helen Simpson
I really enjoyed listening to this book. Trollope at his best with the story, and the narrator was excellent.
KAB
A bit long, but there are some really lovely characters, especially given the time-period. Good reading, too. Thank you!