17 h 50 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the rich and poor share a country but live as strangers?
In Benjamin Disraeli's Sybil, Or, The Two Nations, Charles Egremont moves from fashionable London clubs toward an England he barely knows. Near the ruins of Marney Abbey, the young aristocrat encounters working people whose words challenge his comfortable life. Sybil Gerard draws him closer through love and conscience.
Sybil's father, Walter Gerard, leads working men in the Chartist cause, seeking political reform through peaceful persuasion. As Egremont explores village poverty and factory life, questions of duty become personal. His brother, Lord Marney, counts costs; the mill owner Mr Trafford shows another way. Egremont must decide where he stands.
What you’ll discover
- An England divided Travel from clubs and drawing rooms to cottages, mills, and Wodgate's lawless workshops.
- Love that challenges comfort Meet Sybil, whose devotion to working people draws Egremont beyond his own class.
- A cause with stakes Follow Walter Gerard's peaceful campaign for political reform and the rights of the poor.
- Power measured by duty Weigh Lord Marney's harsh rule against Mr Trafford's good homes, schools, and fair pay.
- Satire with sympathy Enjoy Disraeli's mocking eye for fashionable society alongside his concern for lives of hardship.
Who will love it
For readers who love Victorian novels with a purpose, political fiction, and love stories shaped by conscience and class division, and anyone curious about the Chartists and the Condition of England debate.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- England is split into two nations
- A bored young aristocrat on Derby eve
- Among the ruins, a strange new conversation
- Lord Marney's village and the rural poor
- Mowbray, the model mill and Sybil's home
- Wodgate, a town without law or church
- Chartism, the petition and a split in the cause
- What the book is really arguing
- How Disraeli tells the story
Who’s who
- Charles EgremontA younger son of a new lord, idle at first, who learns about the poor through love and conscience and must choose where he stands.
- Sybil GerardA devout, gentle young woman raised in a convent, who holds to the old faith and cares deeply for the working people around her.
- Walter GerardSybil's father, a proud workman and Chartist leader who believes in peaceful persuasion and in the lost rights of the poor.
- Stephen MorleyA learned writer from the working class, a friend of the Gerards, who wants a new social order and doubts religion.
- Lord MarneyEgremont's elder brother, a hard landowner who cares more about rents and rates than about the people on his land.
- Mr TraffordA mill owner who builds good homes, schools and fair pay for his workers, and shows that a kinder way is possible.
- DevilsdustA clever young worker from Wodgate, named for the place he was raised, who hopes to rise in the world.
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 17 h 50 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Sybil oder die beiden Nationen
by Benjamin Disraeli · 1845
Among abbey ruins, a young aristocrat meets a Chartist's daughter and begins to confront England's divided world.
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In short
Sybil, Or, The Two Nations is a novel by Benjamin Disraeli, published in 1845. It is the middle book of a trio that begins with Coningsby and ends with Tancred.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
England is split into two nations
The book rests on one image. England, Disraeli says, holds two nations, the rich and the poor, who know each other as little as strangers from distant planets. They are fed differently, taught differently and governed, in practice, by different rules. He wrote this in 1845, the decade often called the Hungry Forties, when trade was poor, wages were low and many families went short of food.
Disraeli was not a radical. He belonged to the Conservative side, and he had a romantic view of England's past. He believed that the old Church, the old nobility and the old crown had once shielded the poor, and that the new rich had broken that bond. His heroes are not rebels. They are men who want rulers to act as protectors again.
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What is Sybil by Disraeli about?
It follows Charles Egremont, a young aristocrat, who falls for Sybil Gerard, the daughter of a Chartist leader. Through them the novel shows rich and poor England in the 1830s and 1840s and argues that the country is divided in two.
What are the two nations in Sybil?
The two nations are the rich and the poor. Disraeli says they live in the same country but know almost nothing of each other, have different habits and food, and are in practice governed by different rules.
Is Sybil based on real events?
The characters are invented, but the setting is real. It draws on the Chartist movement, the New Poor Law and government reports on factory and mining conditions. The novel was published in 1845, shortly after the events it describes.
The author
Benjamin Disraeli
1804–1881 · British statesman and novelist
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) was a British politician and novelist. He was born in London and lived in England. His novels include Henrietta Temple (1837), Coningsby (1844), Sybil (1845), and Tancred (1847). He led the Conservative Party and served as British prime minister in 1868 and from 1874 to 1880.
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