I'm Currently Reading...Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens (Part 6)

Chapter the Seventy-Third - Chapter the Last: Soooooo it turns out that Sir Chester is Hugh's father after a fling with a Gyspy woman.  That was unexpected.  Also, Barnaby is not hanged (he's saved by Gabriel) but Hugh and Dennis are.  I'll give the Wikipedia summary of the end:

  "Joe and Dolly are married and become proprietors of the rebuilt Maypole. Edward Chester and Emma are married and go to the West Indies. Miggs tries to get her position back at the Varden household, is rejected, and becomes a jailer at a women's prison. Simon Tappertit, his legs crushed in the riots, becomes a shoe-black. Gashford later commits suicide. Lord George Gordon is held in the Tower and is later judged innocent of inciting the riots. Sir John Chester, now a Member of Parliament, turns out to be the father of Hugh and is killed in a duel by Geoffrey Haredale. Haredale escapes to the continent. Barnaby and his mother live out their years tending a farm at the Maypole Inn."


  That's the end!  Barnaby Rudge was such a good book.  I actually think it is one of my favorite Charles Dickens books, along with Our Mutual Friend.  Apparently, Barnaby Rudge was Dickens' only other historical novel along with A Tale of Two Cities.  I think I like this one better than A Tale of Two Cities, and that is saying a lot because I thought it was great, two.  My favorite characters were Dolly and Joe, and my least favorite character I think was Mr. Rudge, because he should have been nicer to Barnaby.  Overall I enjoyed it a ton, and I'd give it a 4 out of 5 stars, just because I got bored with some parts.

  Now I'm going to share some random images I found on Google that goes with the story:

 

 

  Here's some facts about the story I got from Gina's Dickensblog:
"

• Barnaby Rudge was Dickens's fifth novel (note: link contains spoilers). It ran in the periodical Master Humphrey's Clock, as did his fourth novel, The Old Curiosity Shop.
• It was the first of Dickens's two historical novels, the other one being A Tale of Two Cities.
• Les Standiford writes in The Man Who Invented Christmas, "The public's response to Barnaby Rudge was dramatically disappointing. Sales plunged from 100,000 for issues of The Old Curiosity Shop to 70,000 for the initial issues of its successor and to 30,000 by the end." However, the character Dolly Varden inspired popular fashion trends and songs, and even had a trout named after her!
• Barnaby's pet raven, Grip, is based on Dickens's own pet ravens. And the fictional Grip appears to have inspired -- you guessed it -- Edgar Allan Poe! Rob Velella has more on this.
• According to IMDb, Barnaby Rudge has been adapted as a film only three times: as (silent) feature films in 1911 and 1915, and as a BBC TV miniseries in 1960. The miniseries is available on DVD as part of The Charles Dickens Collection, Vol. 2. However, like most Dickens books, the novel has been adapted for the theater several times. Last year an original musical version ran in Scarborough, England."

Pretty awesome right?   I hope you liked listening to me talk about my journey through Dickens' fifth novel.  If you ever have any questions about the book, just contact me. :)

Pictures from Google Images.