The String of Pearls, James Malcolm Rymer
The String of Pearls, James Malcolm Rymer
List: $25.00 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.50

The String of Pearls
The Original Story of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Author: James Malcolm Rymer, Thomas Peckett Prest

Narrator: Cathy Dobson

Unabridged: 11 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/08/2017


Synopsis

The iconic tale of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, was first published as a weekly series of "penny dreadfuls" between November 1846 and March 1847. The author cannot be determined with any certainty, but scholars beleive it was most probably written collaboratively by James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest, alternating between each episode released.

Our story begins in 1785 when a young seafarer, Captain Thornhill, disappears while visiting the shop of a barber in London, a certain Sweeney Todd whose shop in Fleet Street is situated by St. Dunstan's church, just round the corner from the famous and popular meat pie shop run by Mrs. Lovett. Thornhill was carrying a string of pearls as a gift for Johanna Oakley, the sweetheart of his friend Mark Ingestrie who is missing, presumed lost at sea. One of Thornhill's friends, Colonel Jeffrey, together with Johanna Oakley, takes up the search... and suspicion immediately falls on the barber's shop as Thornhill's faithful dog has taken up station at that door and refuses to leave the place. But the mystery only deepens. Todd's apprentice asks awkward questions and makes some frightening discoveries, but is immediately dispatched to a lunatic asylum outside London where he is incarcerated. And meanwhile the entire district is troubled by an appalling stench rising from the vaults of St. Dunstan's church.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Pedro on April 24, 2021

Excelente historia, me gusto mucho la narrativa ya que tiene cierto toque de comicidad oscura, que logra arrancarte una carcajada a pesar de que el relato sea de un degollamiento (sumamente difícil lograr eso). Tiene muchos personajes sombríos, y de fondo un romance que queda completamente relegado......more

Goodreads review by Lady Clementina on September 29, 2018

This tale of mystery and horror features the infamous ‘demon barber’, Sweeney Todd. Lieutenant Thornhill goes into Todd’s shop never to be seen again- others also seem to have disappeared in the creepy barber’s shop. But what did he do with them? Col. Jeffrey and the heroine Johanna Oakley set out t......more

Goodreads review by Carlo on January 09, 2020

Se avete letto I misteri di Parigi di Sue o quello di Marsiglia di Zola, vi.ritroveete i medesimi ingredienti e trascorrerete alcune.gradevolimore di lettura. Se, come me, eravate alla ricerca del testo dal quale pensavate fosse stato tratto l'omonimo film con Johnny Depp o l'omonimo musical, chiude......more

Goodreads review by Nancy on July 11, 2017

The String of Pearls is quite simply, pure reading pleasure, if a story about murders, enslavement, cannibalism, and a demented barber floats your boat. In this case, it certainly floats mine. The four stars I've given it here indicate my RFQ, or reading-fun quotient. I have a wee bit about plot (an......more

Goodreads review by Heather on May 22, 2019

Here's my interpretation of what this novel is about (spoilers ahead). It's about industrialization and the plight of the poor. Mrs. Lovett's assistant works in a basement that he can't leave. He works with machines and gets barked orders from a disembodied voice (Lovett), as if the orders are coming......more