If you only read one Trollope, it should be Barchester Tower.

Anthony Trollope brings a host of characters back to life from the 1800's and they are as real to the reader as they probably were then. The author often addresses the reader, and assures him/her that all will be well by the finish. A charming tale of Warden Harding and his family emerges as they struggle to survive the dictates of a powerful church and its bureaucracy in Barchester, an English cathedral town This was Trollope's second book in a series of six. I read the first, "The Warden, " which introduces Septimus Harding, a kind gentleman who is in charge of Hiram's Hospital. I enjoyed these two books so much, I plan to continue the summer in in this lovely town that Trollope created.