10 h 53 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 10 h 53 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In a quiet cathedral town, a respected choirmaster keeps a second life hidden in the smoke of an opium den.
Charles Dickens’s final, unfinished novel moves from a shabby London room to Cloisterham, a town of ivy, red brick and gravestones. John Jasper serves its cathedral and dotes on his nephew, Edwin Drood. Yet his secret visits to an opium den and his feelings for Edwin’s promised bride, Rosa Bud, darken that devotion.
Edwin and Rosa share an engagement arranged by their late fathers, not a love they freely choose. When Neville Landless and his watchful twin, Helena, arrive from Ceylon, tempers rise. Neville quarrels with Edwin, and the sleepy town becomes the setting for a murder puzzle Dickens leaves without a settled answer.
What you’ll discover
- A town under shadow Walk through cathedral grounds where ivy, gravestones and quiet streets frame a dark mystery.
- The choirmaster’s divided life Watch Jasper move between public respectability and the secrets he keeps from Cloisterham.
- Hearts bound by duty Meet Edwin and Rosa as an inherited promise sits uneasily beside their uncertain feelings.
- Dickens in darker moods Find sharp comedy among pompous townsfolk, set against anger, secrecy and concealed identity.
- A puzzle left open Weigh the clues yourself in an unfinished mystery that still invites readers to argue.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy cathedral towns, comic characters, Victorian atmosphere and a mystery that lets you play detective.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A choirmaster hides a dark habit
- A devoted uncle watches his nephew too closely
- Two young people are promised and unhappy
- A town of pompous men and a stone-colored rogue
- Two strangers arrive, and a philanthropist shouts
- One glass of wine starts a feud
- A guardian presses a ring into a young man's hand
- A moonlit tour of the tombs
- Christmas Eve and a storm that blows everything bare
- A town of masks and a mind in two halves
- A story told in comedy, dreams and clues
Who’s who
- John JasperChoirmaster and music teacher at Cloisterham cathedral, he dotes on his nephew, takes opium in secret and watches Rosa with unsettling intensity.
- Edwin DroodA cheerful young engineer, promised since childhood to Rosa, who plans to work in Egypt and has not yet looked closely at his own heart.
- Rosa BudCalled Rosebud, a pretty, willful schoolgirl at the Nuns' House who wants a real choice in love and fears her music teacher.
- Neville LandlessHot-tempered young man from Ceylon, studying with a kind clergyman, who is drawn to Rosa and struggles against his own anger.
- Helena LandlessNeville's proud, brave twin sister, who befriends Rosa at school and fiercely defends her brother.
- Septimus CrisparkleA boxing, singing Minor Canon who lives with his mother and tries to guide Neville toward better ways.
- Mr. GrewgiousRosa's dry, awkward guardian, a lawyer who carries out a trust faithfully and means to protect his ward.
- DurdlesA drunken stonemason who knows the crypt and its hidden tombs better than any living man, and who tells his own tale in the third person.
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Il mistero di Edwin Drood
by Charles Dickens · 1870
A choirmaster slips from an opium den to a cathedral stall, and his nephew vanishes on Christmas Eve.
Medium level10–20 hours to readItaliano
Excellent
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In short
A man wakes in a shabby London room. A rusty spike seems to hang between his eyes and a gray cathedral tower that cannot possibly be there.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A choirmaster hides a dark habit
The novel opens in confusion. A man wakes in a London opium den and sees a cathedral tower where none can be. A rusty iron spike hangs in his view, and his half-drugged mind turns it into a Sultan's procession with elephants and scimitars. Then the dream clears and he sees the squalid room.
He grips the Chinese man by the throat, drags the Lascar onto the floor and listens hard to their muttered words. He hears nothing useful, leaves silver coins on the table and walks out. Dickens does not yet say who he is or what he hopes to hear.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1870
- Language
- Italiano
- Reading time
- 7 h 5 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Dickens, Charles. The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mystery-of-edwin-drood.
Dickens, C. (2026). The mystery of Edwin Drood. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mystery-of-edwin-drood (Original work published 1870)
Dickens, Charles. The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mystery-of-edwin-drood.
@book{dickens2026mystery,
author = {Dickens, Charles},
title = {The Mystery of Edwin Drood},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mystery-of-edwin-drood},
note = {First published 1870}
}
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What is The Mystery of Edwin Drood about?
It follows a cathedral town in which a choirmaster, his nephew Edwin and the girl Edwin is promised to are drawn into a web of secrets. A young man vanishes at Christmas, and suspicion falls on a hot-tempered newcomer.
Why is The Mystery of Edwin Drood unfinished?
Charles Dickens died in 1870 while writing it, leaving only part of the planned story. Readers and scholars have debated for generations how he meant to resolve its puzzle.
Who is John Jasper in Edwin Drood?
John Jasper is the choirmaster of Cloisterham cathedral and the uncle of Edwin Drood. He seems devoted to his nephew, takes opium in secret and teaches music to Rosa Bud, who fears him.
The author
Charles Dickens
1812–1870 · English novelist
Charles Dickens was an English novelist born in Portsmouth in 1812. He lived in London and later at Gad’s Hill Place in Kent, where he died in 1870. His books include The Pickwick Papers (1836–1837), A Christmas Carol (1843), David Copperfield (1849–1850), and Great Expectations (1860–1861).
More by Charles Dickens
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