Which Warden recording should you buy?
The first of the Barsetshire novels. Every edition here is listed as unabridged, so the main question is whose voice you want — with one running time we cannot account for.
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Anthony Trollope · 7 Audible UK recordings compared
Short answer
Timothy West, for a reason specific to this book rather than a general preference: he reads every Barsetshire novel and every Palliser novel on this site, so starting with him means you can carry straight on through both series without changing narrator halfway. Every edition here is listed as unabridged, so unusually for this site there is no abridgement, graded reader or dramatisation to steer round. One thing worth noticing: the Edward Fox edition runs 9 hours 42, where every other reading here runs 6 hrs 44 mins to 7 hrs 56 mins. Its listing does not explain the difference and we have not established why, so we do not count it as a complete reading, and we would check the product page before buying it.
The recordings, compared
| Narrator | Length | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Timothy West Our pick | 6 hrs 44 mins | Unabridged | Reads every novel in both Trollope series on this site, Barsetshire and Palliser, so you can continue without a change of voice. |
| Simon Vance | 7 hrs 9 mins | Unabridged | Complete. Vance also reads several of the other Trollopes, though not the full set. |
| Nigel Hawthorne | 7 hrs 51 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| David Shaw-Parker | 7 hrs 34 mins | Unabridged | Complete. Shaw-Parker has recorded an unusually large amount of Trollope. |
| Flo Gibson | 7 hrs 6 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Sandra Cullum | 7 hrs 56 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Edward Fox | 9 hrs 42 mins | Unabridged | Listed as unabridged but runs 1 hr 46 mins longer than the longest complete reading here. That is a large gap for pace alone, the listing does not explain it, and we have not established the cause. |