In this world of bribes, vendettas and swindling, in which heiresses are gambled and won, Trollope's characters embody all the vices: Lady Carbury is 'false from head to foot'; her son Felix has 'the instincts of a horse, not approaching the higher sympathies of a dog'; and Melmotte - the colossal figure who dominates the book - is a 'horrid, big, rich scoundrel... a bloated swindler... a vile city ruffian'.

Anthony Trollope (1815-82) published his first novel in 1847. It was in 1855 that he published The Warden, the first of his most famous series, the Barsetshire novels. The series continued with Barchester Towers, Doctor Thorne, Framley Parsonage, The Small House at Allington and The Last Chronicle of Barset.

Timothy West, CBE, has had a long and distinguished career on stage, appearing in the Royal National Theatre's acclaimed production of King Lear, as Falstaff in both parts of Henry IV, and on tour in The Birthday Party, The Master Builder and The External. On TV, he has been in Bleak House, New Tricks, Bedtime, Waking the Dead and Colditz, while his films include Cry Freedom, Ever After and Joan of Arc.