Orley Farm


Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)

(4.5 stars; 74 reviews)

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

01 - THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE GREAT ORLEY FARM CASE 30:18 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
02 - LADY MASON AND HER SON 35:56 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
03 - THE CLEEVE 20:49 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
04 - THE PERILS OF YOUTH 18:50 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
05 - SIR PEREGRINE MAKES A SECOND PROMISE 16:59 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
06 - THE COMMERCIAL ROOM, BULL INN, LEEDS 33:09 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
07 - THE MASONS OF GROBY PARK 33:11 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
08 - MRS. MASON'S HOT LUNCHEON 15:03 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
09 - A CONVIVIAL MEETING 27:23 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
10 - MR., MRS., AND MISS FURNIVAL 23:04 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
11 - MRS. FURNIVAL AT HOME 25:37 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
12 - MR. FURNIVAL'S CHAMBERS 24:26 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
13 - GUILTY, OR NOT GUILTY 25:13 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
14 - DINNER AT THE CLEEVE 24:52 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
15 - A MORNING CALL AT MOUNT PLEASANT VILLA 23:04 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
16 - MR. DOCKWRATH IN BEDFORD ROW 23:25 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
17 - VON BAUHR 24:09 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
18 - THE ENGLISH VON BAUHR 18:08 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
19 - THE STAVELY FAMILY 32:46 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
20 - MR. DOCKWRATH IN HIS OWN OFFICE 19:50 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
21 - CHRISTMAS IN HARLEY STREET 25:19 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
22 - CHRISTMAS AT NONINGSBY 32:50 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
23 - CHRISTMAS AT GROBY PARK 18:46 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
24 - CHRISTMAS IN GREAT ST. HELENS 19:28 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
25 - MR. FURNIVAL AGAIN AT HIS CHAMBERS 25:11 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
26 - WHY SHOULD I NOT? 28:39 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
27 - COMMERCE 18:53 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
28 - MONKTON GRANGE 25:37 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
29 - BREAKING COVERT 22:22 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
30 - ANOTHER FALL 24:38 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
31 - FOOTSTEPS IN THE CORRIDOR 17:35 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
32 - WHAT BRIDGET BOLSTER HAD TO SAY 31:01 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
33 - THE ANGEL OF LIGHT 25:05 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
34 - MR. FURNIVAL LOOKS FOR ASSISTANCE 18:36 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
35 - LOVE WAS STILL THE LORD OF ALL 33:49 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
36 - WHAT THE YOUNG MEN THOUGHT ABOUT IT 21:37 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
37 - PEREGRINE'S ELOQUENCE 22:29 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
38 - OH, INDEED! 19:29 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
39 - WHY SHOULD HE GO? 37:42 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
40 - I CALL IT AWFUL 18:41 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
41 - HOW CAN I SAVE HIM? 26:12 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
42 - JOHN KENNEBY GOES TO HAMWORTH 20:30 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
43 - JOHN KENNEBY'S COURTSHIP 20:23 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
44 - SHOWING HOW LADY MASON COULD BE VERY NOBLE 31:45 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
45 - SHOWING HOW MRS. ORME COULD BE VERY WEAK MINDED 29:46 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
46 - A WOMAN'S IDEA OF FRIENDSHIP 19:26 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
47 - THE GEM OF THE FOUR FAMILIES 20:25 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
48 - THE ANGEL OF LIGHT UNDER A CLOUD 28:10 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
49 - MRS. FURNIVAL CAN'T PUT UP WITH IT 24:04 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
50 - IT IS QUITE IMPOSSIBLE 34:33 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
51 - MRS. FURNIVAL'S JOURNEY TO HAMWORTH 21:12 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
52 - SHOWING HOW THINGS WENT ON AT NONINGSBY 20:25 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
53 - LADY MASON RETURNS HOME 29:42 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
54 - TELLING ALL THAT HAPPENED BENEATH THE LAMP-POST 23:24 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
55 - WHAT TOOK PLACE IN HARLEY STREET 22:00 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
56 - HOW SIR PEREGRINE DID BUSINESS WITH MR. ROUND 22:16 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
57 - THE LOVES AND HOPES OF ALBERT FITZALLEN 22:18 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
58 - MISS STAVELEY DECLINES TO EAT MINCED VEAL 30:14 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
59 - NO SURRENDER 21:52 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
60 - WHAT REBEKAH DID FOR HER SON 24:20 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
61 - THE STATE OF PUBLIC OPINION 23:37 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
62 - WHAT THE FOUR LAWYERS THOUGHT ABOUT IT 21:47 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
63 - THE EVENING BEFORE THE TRIAL 28:58 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
64 - THE FIRST JOURNEY TO ALSTON 23:54 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
65 - FELIX GRAHAM RETURNS TO NONINGSBY 28:31 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
66 - SHOWING HOW MISS FURNIVAL TREATED HER LOVERS 22:56 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
67 - MR. MOULDER BACKS HIS OPINION 17:52 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
68 - THE FIRST DAY OF THE TRIAL 27:10 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
69 - THE TWO JUDGES 19:36 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
70 - HOW AM I TO BEAR IT? 26:32 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
71 - SHOWING HOW JOHN KENNEBY AND BRIDGET BOLSTER BORE THEMSELVES IN COURT 30:18 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
72 - MR. FURNIVAL'S SPEECH 22:13 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
73 - MRS. ORME TELLS THE STORY 28:13 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
74 - YOUNG LOCHINVAR 20:21 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
75 - THE LAST DAY 27:48 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
76 - I LOVE HER STILL 23:31 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
77 - JOHN KENNEBY'S DOOM 20:22 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
78 - THE LAST OF THE LAWYERS 27:50 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
79 - FAREWELL 29:40 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
80 - SHOWING HOW AFFAIRS SETTLED THEMSELVES AT NONINGSBY 20:10 Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)

Reviews

One of his best works. Persevere through the slow scene setting.


(5 stars)

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


(5 stars)

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.

Oh Sweet GUILT!?


(4 stars)

I was so sorry that Lady Mason didn’t get away with her crime and enjoy the proceeds of it living out a long life of Victorian upper class respectability, wealth, peace and quiet. But it was not to be so! “Crime” could not pay emotionally! Punishment must follow! Lady M was so unrelentingly miserable and capital G - guilty that Indeed I wonder if Trollope was actually satirizing the late 19th C British view of Christian Guilt , Punishment and Repentance. Lady M shed so many tears of remorse and repentance that salty water was dripping out of my earphones! Excellently read and recorded. I discovered Anthony Trollope this year and have listened to about 25 titles. He is so great a psychological writer that his indecisive or over decisive characters completely capture this reader and I think millions of others.

THIS DID NOT MAKE THE FAME OF TROLLOPE


(5 stars)

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.

I couldn't stop listening


(5 stars)

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


(4.5 stars)

I really enjoyed listening to this book. Trollope at his best with the story, and the narrator was excellent.

great reader, repetitive story w few surpises


(3.5 stars)

Leonard Wilson is one of the few American readers who does great British accents. story a bit meh; everything turns out as expected except one major plot twist.


(2.5 stars)

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.