Barnaby Rudge

Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty' is an historical novel by the author Charles Dickens. Barnaby Rudge (along with The Old Curiosity Shop) was one of two novels that Dickens published in his short-lived weekly serial Master Humphrey's Clock, which lasted from 1840 to 1841, when Barnaby Rudge was published. It was Dickens' first attempt at an historical novel, his only other being A Tale of Two Cities. It is one of his less esteemed novels.

The plot is based on the "no-popery" or Gordon riots of 1780 seen through the eyes of the simple but good-hearted title character. The fanatical Lord George Gordon is treated with some sympathy in the novel, which concludes with a panoramic description of the riots, which lasted several days.


— Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.