The Small House at Allington

The most difficult of the Barchester chronicles I've read, this time I found the plot and the characters quite difficult to get into and it's taken me nearly a year to finish it (admittedly this has been an eventful year). Probably not the time to appreciate it. I appreciate the ending, however. I agree that Lily Dale is maddening for her decision, but so many novels of this period seem to take the easy route (Dickens I'm looking at you). So far, I haven't found that Trollope's women can compare to say Henry James or Hardy (although it's been a while since I read Trollope's later novels), I don't think Lily has that kind of depth, but it's a good beginning and Eames seems better written (apart from the harping on about his ‘hobbledeyhoyhood' which just seems rather overused).