Barnaby Rudge : [Illustrations and Free Audio Book Link]

Summary

Gathered round the fire at the Maypole Inn, in the village of Chigwell, on a foul weather evening in the year 1775 were John Willet, proprietor of the Maypole, and his three cronies. One of the three, Soloman Daisy, tells a stranger at the inn a well-known local tale of the murder of Reuben Haredale which had occurred 22 years ago that very day. Reuben had been owner of the Warren, an estate in the area, now the residence of the deceased Reuben's brother, Geoffrey, and his niece, Reuben's daughter Emma Haredale.

After the murder, Reuben's gardener and steward were missing and suspects in the crime. The gardener's body was later found, but it was misidentified as the steward (the actual murderer, Rudge Senior) because the steward had dressed it in clothes belonging to him. The gardener was assumed to be the murderer.

Joe Willet, son of the Maypole proprietor, quarrels with his father because John treats 20-year-old Joe as a child. Finally having had enough of this ill treatment, Joe leaves the Maypole and goes for a soldier, stopping to say goodbye to the woman he loves, Dolly Varden, daughter of locksmith Gabriel Varden.

Meanwhile, Edward Chester is in love with Emma Haredale. Both Edward's father, John Chester, and Emma's uncle, the Catholic Geoffrey Haredale, sworn enemies, oppose the union after Sir John untruthfully convinces Geoffrey that Edward's intentions are dishonorable. Sir John's intentions are to marry Edward to a woman with a rich inheritance in order to support John's expensive lifestyle and to pay off his debtors. Edward quarrels with his father and leaves home for the West Indies.

Barnaby Rudge, a local idiot, wanders in and out of the story with his pet raven, Grip. Barnaby's mother begins to receive visits from a shadowy highwayman whom she feels compelled to protect. She later gives up the annuity she had been receiving from Geoffrey Haredale and, without explanation, takes Barnaby and leaves the City hoping to escape the unwanted visitor.

The story advances five years to a wintry evening in early 1780. On the 27th anniversary of Reuben Haredale's murder, Soloman Daisy, winding the bell tower clock, sees a ghost in the churchyard. He reports this hair-raising event to his friends at the Maypole and John Willet decides that Geoffrey Haredale should hear the story. He departs in a winter storm taking Hugh, hostler of the Maypole, as a guide. On the way back to the Maypole, John and Hugh are met by three men seeking the way to London and, finding it 13 miles off, seek refuge for the night. Beds are prepared for them at the Maypole.

These visitors prove to be Lord George Gordon; his secretary, Gashford; and a servant, John Grueby. Next day the three depart for London, inciting anti-Catholic sentiment along the way and recruiting Protestant volunteers from which Ned Dennis, hangman of Tyburn, and Simon Tappertit, former apprentice to Gabriel Varden, are chosen as leaders. Hugh, finding a handbill left at the Maypole, joins the Protestant throng Dickens describes as "sprinkled doubtless here and there with honest zealots, but composed for the most part of the very scum and refuse of London, whose growth was fostered by bad criminal laws, bad prison regulations, and the worst conceivable police."

Barnaby and his mother have been living quietly in a country village, their whereabouts unknown despite Geoffrey Haredale's attempts to find them. The mysterious stranger finds them and sends Stagg, the blind man, to attempt to get money from them. Barnaby and his mother then flee to London hoping to again lose their pursuer.

When Barnaby and his mother arrive at Westminster Bridge they see a crowd of rioters heading for a meeting on the Surrey side of the river. Barnaby is duped by the rioters into joining them, despite his mother's pleas. The rioters then march on Parliament, and burn several Catholic churches and the homes of Cat

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