Aside from A Christmas Carol (which I try to read every year at Christmas) and A Tale of Two Cities (which I’ve read twice), this is the only other “full” Dickens book I ever read (excluding other short stories).
For those who don’t know, The Mystery of Edwin Drood holds a unique place in literature. I believe it’s the only whodunnit that doesn’t have a ‘whodunnit’ reveal, because Dickens had a stroke in the middle of writing it. Literally in the middle – twelve parts were planned, six had been published. He left no notes on the last six installments and just died in the middle, and the general public has been trying to solve the mystery of Drood’s disappearance for 152 years. It was pretty selfish of him to die in the middle of the story but that’s how it goes sometimes 😉
Anyway, the novel follows the teenage orphan Edwin Drood (imagine!) as he goes about his business, which is to say, he hangs out with his betrothed, he visits his uncle, he makes plans for his future (going to Egypt to work as an engineer where his father had been a partner). Unfortunately for Edwin, he and his fiancé like each other but fight a lot, his uncle is an opium addict who (in addition to hanging out in opium dens, also likes to hang out in crypts) may wish to cause him harm, and his future is left in question when he disappears under mysterious circumstances.
There are other supporting characters and other mysteries as well – why was Princess Puffer following and cursing John Jasper (Drood’s uncle)? How do the Landlesses fit in? Who is Dick Datchery?
As I said, Dickens’ death leaves the work unfinished, with subsequent generations of readers trying to crack the mystery of Edwin Drood. Was Drood murdered by his uncle? Or was he going to triumphantly return, wealthy and successful from Egypt?
While there are no known notes or clues to how Dickens was going officially end the story, certain clues do point in the direction of John Jasper murdering his nephew. First, there are the out of story clues:
1. Dickens wrote a letter to his friend/biographer John Forster outlining the plot (although not the murder) and describing the story as the murder of a nephew by his uncle.
2. The story’s original illustrator was told to include a certain scarf in one of his illustrations because Jasper was to strangle Drood with it.
3. Dickens’ son was told unequivocally by his father that Jasper was the murderer.
Even before reading up on the unfinished story, the text also provides a lot of clues, which I won’t spoil here, because the mystery is still fun, even after a century and a half.
As always, Dickens character names are some of the most memorable you’ll ever come across.
I actually loved this story, even though it was unfinished, and no Dickens fan should skip it.
Tag Archives: genre: literary fiction
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Warlight
Michael Ondaatje’s Warlight was one of the few books I physically read in 2019. I believe it came out in 2018 and was on the long list for The Booker Prize, for those of you who care about these things.
This was one of those books that was heartbreakingly beautiful and also so bittersweet and sad that I was devastated when it was over.
It follows 14 year old Nathaniel towards the end of the second world war in London. Nathaniel’s parents leave Nathaniel and his older sister, Rachel, in the care of their lodger while they go off for “work” in Singapore. The lodger, The Moth (actually named Walter), associates with an eccentric crowd that shapes the children’s lives during the postwar period.
Another acquaintance, ‘The Darter’ helps Nathaniel gain employment, where he meets and sleeps with Agnes (not her real name). After the year is up and their parents still haven’t returned, Nathaniel and Rachel begin to suspect that their mother is still in England, and Nathaniel begins to suspect he is being followed.
Nathaniel, Rachel, and Walter are eventually attacked by the men following Nathaniel, and when he and Rachel awaken, they’ve already been rescued, but Walter was killed. They briefly see their mother, who implies that giving up her children was part of “the deal” she made to keep them safe. Nathaniel and Rachel are then separated and rehomed.
In 1959, Nathaniel, now and adult, is working in the Foreign Office. He is part of a censorship effort regarding espionage activities towards the end of the war. Nathaniel is looking for the people from that part of his life, including his mother, which is part of his motivation for working in the Foreign Office. He spends the rest of the book looking for her and the people who so shaped his life as an adolescent.
This is one of those books that hints the past never really stays in the past, and that memory is a construct of the older, wiser self. The second part I admit I didn’t totally come up with on my own, I’m summarizing the reviews I read after the book. The first part I did, though! It’s also obviously a book about the lingering effects of war.
The book itself was beautifully written – the language is engaging and intricate, with many plot points more implied than revealed.
I really enjoyed this book even though it broke my heart. If you don’t like that kind of thing, don’t read it, but if you do…this is a good one.
A Gentleman in Moscow
Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow was the last novel I got through in 2018 and was also, quite possibly, my favorite.
Our protagonist, Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, was a Russian born aristocrat in the late 1880s. He and his younger sister became orphans when he was 10 or 11 (his parents died of cholera within hours of each other, IIRC). His father’s companion in the war, another aristocrat (who was a grand duke, IIRC) told 11 year old Rostov that he had to be strong for his sister and that he had to learn to master his circumstances, or else his circumstances would master him.
Rostov was later sent out of the country by his grandmother for wounding his sister’s suitor (a playboy) that broke her heart. When he returned from Paris in 1917, he was arrested by the Bolsheviks and put on trial for being a social parasite. He refuses to confess, and expects to be shot, but is saved by a revolutionary poem that is attributed to him. He is still found guilty but instead of being shot, is ordered to spend his life under house arrest at his current residence – the Hotel Metropol in Moscow.
Rostov is quickly booted out of his luxurious suite and put in the cramped servant’s quarters in the attic. Most of his possessions are taken from him and he is required to work as a waiter at the hotel to help earn his keep. One of his first friends there is Nina, a nine year old girl who is the daughter of a widowed bureaucrat who is fascinated by princesses.
Nina returns in 1938 as a married woman with a child, whose husband is sentenced to time in the gulag. She’s decided to go with him, so she drops her daughter Sofia off with Rostov and requests he take care of her until she gets back. This is the last time Rostov sees Nina, and he becomes Sofia’s surrogate father.
The story goes on from there.
This story was satisfying and optimistic and hopeful, which I loved. I enjoyed the theme of mastering circumstance – the Count, once a Russian aristocrat who had people serving him, finds himself a waiter, and is working with the people who once waited on him – the other waiters, the bartenders, the seamstresses, the doormen. His social standing drastically plummets, and yet, he becomes their peer, their coworker and confidant, and eventually their friend. He was never a bad guy, but he was someone else, and he makes these friends, and his friends make his situation bearable. He masters his circumstance.
I loved this book. It was a great way to end the year, because it was on such a high note. I highly recommend it.
words in scarlet ink 