10 h 23 minAudiobook16 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 10 h 23 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does honour mean in a world of boxing and high society?
Arthur Conan Doyle’s Rodney Stone brings boxing, honour, and high society into a Regency adventure set in the age of Napoleon. These are the book’s central attractions: the physical contest, the question of honour, and the social world beyond the ring.
The tale invites you to explore these subjects together rather than in isolation. Read for the adventure, but also for the contrasts its setting brings into view: boxing beside high society, physical courage beside honour, and a Regency world framed by the age of Napoleon.
What you’ll discover
- Boxing at the centre Explore a tale that gives boxing a place at the heart of adventure.
- The question of honour Consider honour alongside the physical demands and social world of boxing.
- A high society setting Step into the high society that forms part of this Regency tale.
- The age of Napoleon Enter an adventure whose setting reaches back to the age of Napoleon.
- Doyle in another world Discover Arthur Conan Doyle through a tale of boxing and Regency society.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy Regency dandies, bare-knuckle boxing, naval heroes and a Sussex ghost story will find all of them here, together with a loyal friendship and a mystery that keeps its secret until the last chapters.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Sailor's Son in a Sussex Village
- Two Boys Go Ghost Hunting
- The Actress Who Wanted a Friend
- A Father Comes Home and a Letter Comes Too
- The Uncle from London
- The Prince, a Race and a Missing Valet
- Dandies, Fighters and Boy Jim's Debut
- Naval Heroes and a Plot at Crawley
- What the Story Is Really About
Who’s who
- Rodney StoneA sailor's son and the gentle narrator, he leaves his Sussex village for London and wants to follow his father into the Navy.
- Jim HarrisonCalled Boy Jim, he is a proud, handsome blacksmith's nephew who longs to leave the forge and make his name in London.
- Champion HarrisonThe village blacksmith and retired prizefighter, he is gentle and strong, and he will fight again only if his wife lets him.
- Sir Charles TregellisRodney's uncle, the elegant leader of London fashion, wants to turn his nephew into a gentleman and to win a large wager.
- Anson StoneRodney's father, a plain-spoken naval lieutenant, longs for a ship of his own and wants his son to go to sea.
- Sir Lothian HumeA gaunt, hard-eyed gambler, he backs a rival fighter and wants to inherit the Avon title and estates.
- AmbroseSir Charles's silent, perfect valet serves his master and has a past connected with Lord Avon.
- Miss HintonA former actress living quietly near Anstey Cross, she wants Jim's company and tries to give up drink for his sake.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 10 h 23 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 16 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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Read and hear Rodney Stone in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Rodney Stone
by Arthur Conan Doyle · 1896
A blacksmith's nephew, a dandy uncle and a haunted Sussex house meet where fists and fashion rule Regency England.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Rodney Stone is a historical novel by Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. It is set in the uneasy peace before the wars with Napoleon begin again.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Sailor's Son in a Sussex Village
The story opens on the first of January 1851. Rodney Stone, now an old man, promises younger readers a look at the world of his youth. He warns them that he is only a plain string on which better pearls are hung. Those pearls include boxers, a prince, an admiral and his own famous uncle.
Rodney is born in 1786 in Portsmouth, into a family of sailors who name each eldest son after a favorite commander. His father, Anson Stone, is a lieutenant who spends years at sea against the French. To the boy he is only a face in a miniature on his mother's neck. In his childish mind, the man in a print of Buonaparte is his father's personal enemy, locked with him in a grapple that never ends.
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What is Rodney Stone about?
It is a Regency tale told by Rodney, a sailor's son from Sussex. He is taken to London by a dandy uncle, and his boyhood friend Jim Harrison becomes a prizefighter in a high-stakes match tied to an old murder.
Who is Sir Charles Tregellis in Rodney Stone?
He is Rodney's uncle, a rich London dandy and friend of the Prince of Wales, known as the king of the bucks. He sets fashions, bets on fights, and tries to teach his nephew polite society.
Is Rodney Stone a true story?
No, it is an invented story, though Doyle fills it with real figures of the time. They include Nelson, the Prince of Wales, Fox, Brummell and boxers like Jem Belcher and John Jackson.
The author
Arthur Conan Doyle
1859–1930 · British detective novelist
Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician born in Edinburgh in 1859. He practised medicine in England and wrote novels, short stories and histories. His Sherlock Holmes stories began with A Study in Scarlet in 1887. He also wrote The Lost World in 1912. He died in Crowborough, England, in 1930.
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