Finished it. The John Eames/Lily Dale story ended the way that felt right. I'm glad. I got all weepy when one character died, and was shocked at the death of another. Literally, I sat there and said "Oh!". It felt a little over the top, but then, everyone's reactions made sense, "but, so sudden!", and since that's what I was saying at the same moment, the story felt like it remained consistent. And the resolution of Crawley's dilemma regarding the alleged theft really worked -- I didn't guess it in advance.
Lot's of reviewers at Amazon claim it's the best of the six "Barsetshire novels". I don't know. I liked each one, read them reasonably close to one another....It would be hard to pick. And, then, of course, there's a difference between which one objectively was the richer novel versus which one I just happened to prefer. In some ways, I think the very first novel, "The Warden" might be my favorite. I just fell in love with Mr. Harding, and his violincello. I don't know, really. Don't ask me to pick. They're all worth reading.
I'm going to move on to the Palliser novels, though not necessarily immediately.
