Barnaby Rudge

by Charles Dickens

First published 1841

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4.3(678)

In 1775, a long-unsolved murder continues to bind together the families of the locksmith Gabriel Varden, the secretive Geoffrey Haredale and the guileless Barnaby Rudge. Personal grudges, concealed identities and a violent struggle over inheritance unfold as Barnaby and his devoted mother are drawn back toward the crime that has shadowed their lives.

Five years later, Lord George Gordon’s Protestant agitation helps turn religious protest into the Gordon Riots of 1780. Barnaby is swept into the mob while London’s prisons, chapels and houses come under attack. Dickens combines Gothic mystery with a large historical panorama, showing how political manipulation, prejudice and criminal opportunity transform a crowd into a destructive force.