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Jenieliser - The individual Barsetshire series novels can be read and enjoyed individualy. I think The Warden and Barchester Towers are the most closely coupled. Of these two I enjoyed Barchester Towers more and it can easily be enjoyed without first reading The Warden. My favorites in the series are Barchester Towers, Dr. Thorne, and Framley Parsonage. They are all set about 50 years after Austen's novels, and I think they appeal to many of her readers. One reason I think of Trollope in connection with happy endings is that he occasionally inserts an aside to the reader saying in effect "don't worry, all will end well". For example at one point in Barchester Towers he tells the reader (I'm paraphrasing) "I know the heroine has three suitors and two of them are cads, but be assured that she will make the right choice in the end".
Incidentally, there is a nice BBC mini-series on DVD of The Warden and Barchester Towers (called The Barchester Chronicles). It features Alan Rickman and Susan Hampshire in prominant roles, but not as hero and heroine.
And if you like the Barchester series, you can continue with the more recent series of Barsetshire novels, written by Angela Thirkell, a relative of Trollope.
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