This novel is an excellent introduction to Trollope because of its relative brevity. It was his first novel to win significant acclaim, in part because the titular Warden struggles so realistically and charmingly with the moral dilemma he faces. This is also the first of the Barsetshire novels, a series set in a cathedral town and revolving around clergymen and their families.

This is one of Trollope's most romantic novels and another in the Barsetshire series. The heroine makes bad choices with such courage and integrity that only a complete curmudgeon could fail to love her.

Do you wonder why anyone ever runs for political office? This novel about a handsome young man wrestling with his ambitions provides some answers and a look at how reality meshes with the fantasy — and the insights remain relevant. This is one of the novels in the Palliser series, in which Trollope takes on politics.

The themes of financial market manipulation, social climbing and responses to financial uncertainty ring true today.

Trollope's standards for himself as a gentleman did not permit him to provide details that he deemed too personal. Still his version of his life story is surprisingly honest as well as charming and inspirational. Ironically, his statements crediting his success as a writer to diligence and discipline as much as genius probably contributed to Trollope's fall from literary favor for decades after his death.