First published 1841
London, 1780. An unsolved double murder casts a shadow over the city as tensions rise between Protestant and Catholic communities. Barnaby Rudge, a young man haunted by his family's dark history, finds himself swept into the chaos when the Gordon Riots explode across the streets. Anti-Catholic mobs surge through London, burning and looting while conspirators work in the shadows. Fathers turn against sons, apprentices betray their masters, and old secrets surface amid the violence. As the city burns around him, Barnaby must confront the curse that has followed his family for years. The riots become a crucible where personal vendettas play out against public mayhem, and where blackmail, abduction, and long-delayed retribution finally converge. Dickens weaves together the intimate struggles of families torn apart with the broader social upheaval that transformed London into a battlefield.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, thriller, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, family-drama
Setting: London
Period: 1780
744 pages · Paperback · Penguin Classics
Content warnings: violence