The first of the popular Barsetshire novels centers on the honorable cleric Septimus Harding, one of Trollope’s most memorable characters. The tranquil atmosphere of the cathedral town of Barchester is shattered when a scandal breaks concerning the financial affairs of a Church-run almshouse for elderly men. In the ensuing furor, Septimus Harding, the almshouse's well-meaning warden, finds himself pitted against his daughter's suitor Dr. John Bold, a zealous local reformer. Matters are not improved when Harding's abrasive son-in-law, Archdeacon Grantly, leaps into the fray to defend him against a campaign Bold begins in the national press. An affectionate and wittily satirical view of the workings of the Church of England, The Warden is also a subtle exploration of the rights and wrongs of moral crusades and, in its account of Harding's intensely felt personal drama, a moving depiction of the private impact of public affairs.