Source: Wikipedia
The Mystery of Edwin Drood is the final novel by Charles Dickens. The novel was left unfinished at the time of Dickens' death, and readers have often speculated what the ending might have been. The novel is named after Edwin Drood, but it mostly tells the story of his uncle, a Jekyll-and-Hyde-esque choirmaster named John Jasper, who is in love with his pupil, Rosa Bud. Miss Bud is Drood's fiance, and has caught the eye of the high spirited and hot tempered Neville Landless, who comes from Ceylon with his twin sister, Helena, and immediately makes an enemy of Drood. In the musical version (see below) all of these, along with the Reverend Crisparkle, whom the Landless twins live with, a mysterious opium dealer called only the Princess Puffer, and Crisparkle's assistant, Mister Bazzard, are all considered possible suspects for the murder of Drood.
The story is set in Cloisterham, a lightly fictionalised Rochester, and feelingly evokes the atmosphere of the town as much as its streets and buildings.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood was scheduled to be published in twelve installments (shorter than Dickens' usual twenty) from April 1870 to March 1871, each costing one shilling and illustrated by S.L. Fildes. Only six of the installments were completed before Dickens' death in 1870. It is exactly half finished.
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.