Barnaby Rudge

By Charles Dickens

Book Overview

'One of Dickens' most neglected, but most rewarding, novels' Peter Ackroyd

Charles Dickens's Barnaby Rudge is a vivid portrait of London's descent into anarchy, where 'King Mob' rules the streets, and innocent lives are swept up in the chaos. Set against the backdrop of the Gordon Riots of 1780, Barnaby Rudge is a story of mystery and suspense which begins with an unsolved double murder and goes on to involve conspiracy, blackmail, abduction and retribution. Through the course of the novel fathers and sons become opposed, apprentices plot against their masters and Protestants clash with Catholics on the streets. And, as London erupts into riot, Barnaby Rudge himself struggles to escape the curse of his own past. With its dramatic descriptions of public violence and private horror, its strange secrets and ghostly doublings, Barnaby Rudge is a powerful, disturbing blend of historical realism and Gothic melodrama. This edition is based on the one-volume publication of Barnaby Rudge, reproducing all the original illustrations by 'Phiz' and George Cattermole. Appendices include a map of London at the time of the Gordon Riots and the preface to the 1868 edition.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140437282
• ISBN13: 9780140437287
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Length: 768 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.0" x 7.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Dickens fifth novel is a novel of genius by Britain's greatest novelist of the Victorian Age.

Barnaby Rudge (1841)originally appeared as a weekly serial in Dickens' weekly newspaper Master Humphrey's Clock. The novel is the most obscure work by the master. The story is well worth reading. It is an exciting story of the Anti-Roman Catholic riots of 1780 led by the eccentric George Gordon a member of Parliament. The second half of the book focuses on the riots in a cinematic depiction of the mobs who ran amok in London during a hot summer of hatred, prejudice and murder. Character rather than complicated Victorian plot is why we read Dickens. This book adds many memorable folks to the gallery of Dickens characters. In this long novel we meet: Barnaby Rudge-the title character is a feeble witted lad whose pet is the famed raven Grip. He lives with his mother. We later learn his evil father Rudge Sr. murdered Lord Haredale's brother. The father is hanged but Barnaby lives to spend time at the Maypole Inn. Years before Dostoevsky's novel "The Idiot" Dickens took a mentally ill person as his hero. Barnaby is pardoned for his participation in the Gordon riots. Gabriel Varden, his shrewish wife and buxom daughter Dolly live in London where Mr. Varden is a locksmith. After Joe Willet leaves England to fight in the American Revolution he returns home to wed Dolly. A charming love story. The Haredale family tells us of the love of Mr. Haredale's beautiful niece Emma for Edward the son of John Chester. Chester is a Protestant and a sworn enemy of the Catholic Haredales. Minor charactes such as Hugh (the illegitimate son of Chester); Dennis the hangman; Miss Miggs the man crazy maid to Mrs. Varden and others populate the pages of this fast paced tale of murder,mystery and intrigue. Barnaby Rudge is a fine book which deserves to be better known. It is not Dickens best novel,his longest novel or his most famous novel. Yet it still appeals in its exciting look at the events of 1780. It and the much more famous Tale of Two Cities were the two historical novels the author produced. YOu will never forget Grip the Raven (said to be the inspiration for Edgar Allen Poe's poem "The Raven") or Barnaby and his friends and enemies. Curl up with this good book and let your mind and heart wander back to the year of our Lord 1775 when the novel begins. The book is well illustrated by George Cattermole and Hablot K. Browne in charming art work.

An account of the Gordon riots of 1780.

Dickens is one of my favourite authors, and I took up this book simply because I wanted to read all his books. "Barnaby Rudge", though is a little different than some of Dickens' other works. For one it's about a true historical happening. The riots of 1780 actually did occur. It's one of his shorter books, and it was written earlier on in his career. The book is really not where a reader should start with Dickens' books, but it should be read nonetheless. It still has the same great characterizations and atmosphere that we expect from Dickens, and it's still a good story. Barnaby is quite the character. We have to laugh at his antics, and Slow John at the Maypole Inn is absolutely wonderful. I read this book quite awhile ago, and while I'm writing this review, I'm thinking I need to reread it again. Wonderful atmosphere!

One of My Favorite Dickens

This book was not popular when published, the fault of "too much of a good thing" coming too quickly from the unstoppable pen of the young superstar author. But, please! Ignore the critics of the last 150 years, and just read Barnaby Rudge. I've read 11 of Dickens' major novels, working my way through the catalogue in chronological order. To my tastes, this little sleeper of a book contends well for top spot, right alongside his more famous larger brothers, like Pickwick and Dombey. When I grow up, I want to be like Gabriel Varden -- a man "terrifying in his integrity."

An excellent read

This work by Dickens takes the factual events of the "No Popery" riots of 1780's London,England and uses them as a backdrop for a dozen or so of Dicken's most colorful and well contrasted characters and combines with them a plot that includes a long unsolved murder. The reader can expect the usual thoroughly desciptive scenes, long a hallmark of his writing style, and characters that seem to come to life,jumping as it were, right from the very page. It is a pleasure,not a chore, to read Barnaby Rudge.