In the great cathedral cities of England, the church and politics go hand in hand. The government appoints the bishop, who is the head of the church in that city, and below him come archdeacons, deans, vicars, parsons, chaplains—all kinds of clergymen, of differing degrees of rank, importance, influence, and income. All this is complicated enough, but the appointment of Dr Proudie as the new Bishop of Barchester overturns the old established order in the peaceful city, and a struggle for power begins against the new bishop's wife, the fearsome Mrs Proudie. And when you also add to the mixture the new bishop's chaplain, the oily and ambitious Obadiah Slope, you have a recipe for war.

Barchester Towers, published in 1857, is the second novel in Anthony Trollope's series known as the "Chronicles of Barsetshire". Among other things it satirises the then raging antipathy in the Church of England between High Church and Evangelical adherents. Trollope began writing this book in 1855. "Barchester Towers is many readers' favourite Trollope", wrote The Guardian, which included it in its list of "1000 novels everyone must read".

Anthony Trollope (24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, which revolves around the imaginary county of Barsetshire. He also wrote novels on political, social, and gender issues, and other topical matters. Trollope's popularity and critical success diminished in his later years, but he continued to write prolifically, and some of his later novels have acquired a good reputation.