Barnaby Rudge

Jason Watkins, the award-winning stage and screen actor best known for his roles in The Lost Honour and A Very English Scandal, masterfully performs this brand-new recording of Barnaby Rudge; first published in 1841, it was Dickens’ fifth title and his first historical novel. Set against the backdrop of the Gordon Riots of 1780, Barnaby Rudge reflects back on a time of revolt against the British parliament, following the Catholic Relief Act of 1778. Leading to the death of hundreds and the total destruction of Newgate Prison as well as various Catholic chapels, Dickens was deeply disturbed by this violent moment in British history. Paired with his continuing brushes with poverty and disaster, he decided to instil within the novel, both a sense out outrage at the politicians who recklessly endangered the lives of so many as well as a powerful and progressive moral code for future generations. About the book Barnaby Rudge follows the lives of three very different characters: the eponymou