Barnaby Rudge CHARLES DICKENS

Illustrations by Hablot K. Brotene (Phis) and George Cattermole and with a nese Introduction by Cedric Watts, Rescurch Professor of English, University of Sussex

This vivid historical and political novel by Dickens is centred on the infamous ‘No Popery riots, instigated by Lord George Gordon, which terrorised London in 1780. Dickens’ targets are prejudice, intolerance, religious bigotry and nationalistic fervour, together with the villains who exploit these for selfish ends

His intense account of the riots is interwoven with the mysterious tale of a long-unsolved murder and with a romance involving forbidden love, treachery and heroism. Barnuby Rudge abounds in memorably strange, comic and grotesque characters. Furthermore, recent historical events have renewed its political topicality.