Trollope's Masterpiece
My wife is reading Trollope's "Chronicles of Barsetshire" series, and Barchester Towers is the second of six. (These Barsetshire novels are regarded as his masterpiece, and she is already enthralled with the characters.) I'm more of a history buff, and rarely read novels, but these are excellent, as is his "Palliser" series (Phineas Finn, Phineas Redux, etc.)