Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Die Spur der Schlange
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Für wen es gedacht ist
Readers who love Victorian sensation fiction, clever detectives, stylish villains and courtroom drama will enjoy this book, along with its warm friendships and its shifting narrator.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
Rain pours on the grim factory town of Slopperton-on-the-Sloshy, and a handsome young usher sits mending pens. In his locked desk lies a coil of rope. Everyone calls Jabez North a model of piety. Within a few chapters a rich old man lies murdered, a penniless wanderer is in handcuffs, and a mute policeman is among the few who believe him.
The Trail of the Serpent is a Victorian crime novel by M. E. Braddon. She fills the sensational plot of her day with scheming villains, loyal friends and sharp comedy. Evil here is patient and charming, and justice depends on small things such as a coin, a scar and a crack in a ceiling.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A pious usher hides a dreadful secretFree
- 2A prodigal son comes home to the Black Mill
- 3Richard walks into a trap at Gardenford
- 4A woman at the river meets her seducer
- 5A mute detective stakes everything on a whisper
- 6Two brothers meet in Blind Peter's Alley
- 7A stranger in Paris builds a fortune on a secret
- 8Eight years pass and the hunt begins
- 9Justice depends on who looks closely
- 10A narrator who jokes, preaches and sighs
Punkt 1 von 10
A pious usher hides a dreadful secret
The story opens on a black November day in Slopperton. Then we meet Jabez North, usher at Dr. Tappenden's academy, the one person the weather does not touch.
Slopperton made him. A baby pulled half drowned from the river Sloshy nineteen years earlier, he was raised by the town's charity. Only a visiting phrenologist doubted Jabez's goodness, and the town called him a fraud.
That night he dresses as a countryman, lowers himself from his window past a sick boy's bed, and slips out toward the Black Mill. He comes back muddy and furious, muttering that all his work was for nothing. The sick boy sees a dark stain on his hand and cries out. Jabez forces opium into him, and by morning the child is dead.
A respectable face is the best cover a schemer can wear.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
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About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 133,800 words
- Reading timeAbout 9 h 20 min
Questions about Die Spur der Schlange
What is The Trail of the Serpent about?
It follows a clever foundling, Jabez North, who commits a murder, lets another man take the blame, and rebuilds himself abroad. The innocent man and a mute detective spend years working to prove the truth.
Who is Joseph Peters in The Trail of the Serpent?
Peters is a mute detective who talks by spelling words on his fingers. He believes in Richard's innocence from the start and uses careful observation to uncover the real culprit.
What does the title The Trail of the Serpent mean?
It comes from a poem by Moore, quoted at the start. It suggests that evil marks every human thing, and that a hidden villain leaves a trail that patient eyes can follow.
Is The Trail of the Serpent a true story?
No, it is a work of fiction by M. E. Braddon, written in the nineteenth century. It borrows the style of sensation fiction, with invented towns, people and a plot built on disguise and mistaken identity.
Is The Trail of the Serpent easy to read?
Its chapters are short and lively, with warm humour, vivid scenes and clear turns of plot. A narrator speaks directly to you, which makes the long story pleasant to follow.
Cite this edition
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. The Trail of the Serpent. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-trail-of-the-serpent.
Braddon, M. E. (2026). The trail of the serpent. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-trail-of-the-serpent (Original work published 1860)
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. The Trail of the Serpent. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-trail-of-the-serpent.
@book{braddon2026trail,
author = {Braddon, Mary Elizabeth},
title = {The Trail of the Serpent},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-trail-of-the-serpent},
note = {First published 1860}
}
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