Dickens's first historical novel is filled with violence, looting and the terrible deaths of the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots that swept London in 1780. Barnaby Rudge tells the story of Barnaby, a simple boy caught up the riots, and the friends and family who are themselves affected by the strange events in Barnaby's life including kind-hearted locksmith Gabriel Varden, dim-witted and egotistical landlord John Willet and the brilliantly villainous Sir John Chester.

This is an unforgettable novel of conspiracy, blackmail, abduction and Gothic melodrama.