A novel full of human-friendly irony. In lively dialogues and comical scenes, Anthony Trollope paints a sometimes biting portrait of the English provinces with their quirks and imperfections. At the center is a lovable but unheroic clergyman who suddenly finds himself subjected to public attacks by a do-gooder. In Barchester, a fictional cathedral town in western England, the clergyman Septimus Harding enjoys high esteem. However, one day he is publicly shamed by a man he believed to be his friend and future son-in-law—without being aware of any wrongdoing. When the press also picks up the story, the quiet Mr. Harding suddenly finds himself at the center of a genuine media scandal. With his inherent integrity, he defends himself against the attacks.