20 h 22 minAudiobook11 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 man society calls a criminal exposes the failings of those who enforce its laws?
Paul Clifford grows up in the London tavern of his guardian, Mrs. Margery Lobkins, with few clear paths toward respectability. An unjust imprisonment draws him closer to criminals rather than away from them. He becomes a gifted highwayman whose polished manners let him enter fashionable society without revealing his life on the road.
Then Paul falls in love with Lucy Brandon and seeks a different life. She sees qualities in him that his public identity cannot explain, but affection cannot erase their social distance. With robberies and the threat of capture pressing on the romance, Edward Bulwer-Lytton asks why poverty draws punishment while powerful wrongdoers escape scrutiny.
What you’ll discover
- An outlaw between worlds Follow Paul from criminal companionship into fashionable rooms where his manners conceal his occupation.
- Love across social boundaries Discover a romance in which Lucy's affection meets the hard limits of respectability.
- Justice under question See how an unjust imprisonment deepens the criminal ties it is meant to break.
- Clever arguments against respectability Meet Augustus Tomlinson, whose arguments challenge respectable society's claims to moral authority.
- The authority of law Encounter William Brandon, Lucy's ambitious lawyer uncle, closely tied to the law Paul defies.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy Dickens-style London low life, highwaymen and gentleman rogues, sharp satire of courts and politicians, and love stories that cross class lines will find plenty here to enjoy.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A dying mother and a nameless boy
- A tavern childhood and a strange tutor
- Gambling, quarrels and a break with home
- Paul the critic and a ruinous night
- Justice Burnflat and the House of Correction
- Tomlinson's tale and a foggy escape
- The Jolly Angler and its robber club
- Lucy, Warlock and the gentleman rescuer
- Bath, the schemers and the double life
- Love, crime and the long reach of the past
Who’s who
- Paul CliffordA foundling raised in a London tavern, clever and bold, who becomes the highwayman Captain Lovett and longs to be worthy of the woman he loves.
- Lucy BrandonA kind, lively heiress who loves animals and music, and who gives her heart to a man the world calls a criminal.
- William BrandonA brilliant, cold barrister and judge who schemes for rank and for his niece's marriage while nursing an old and secret wound.
- Lord MaulevererA vain, pleasure-loving earl and old friend of Brandon, who wants Lucy for his wife and cares chiefly for his dinner and his comfort.
- Long Ned PepperA tall, vain highwayman with a fine head of hair, loyal to Paul in his way but quick to look after himself.
- Augustus TomlinsonA smooth, learned rogue and self-styled moderate Whig who defends crime with philosophy and teaches Paul to do the same.
- Dummie DunnakerA small, sly rag merchant and pickpocket who knows more about Paul's birth than he lets on.
- Mrs. Margery LobkinsThe fond, hard-drinking landlady of the Mug, who raises Paul and dreams of making him respectable.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 20 h 22 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 11 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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Paul Clifford
by Edward Bulwer-Lytton · 1830
A boy raised in a London tavern grows into the dashing highwayman Captain Lovett, loved by an heiress.
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In short
Paul Clifford is a novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, first published in 1830. It follows a foundling raised in a London tavern who becomes a famous highwayman, and it uses his story to attack the way the law, the courts and polite society treat the poor.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A dying mother and a nameless boy
The story opens on a dark, rainy night in London. A rag dealer called Dummie Dunnaker hunts through the streets for a Bible and ends up with a book of plays bound to look like one. He brings it to a squalid alehouse called the Mug in Thames Court, where a woman named Judith lies dying, half mad with fever.
She makes Dummie swear an oath of secrecy on the false Bible. She also begs the landlady, Mrs. Margery Lobkins, to raise her little son of about three. The boy has no name and trembles at his mother's wild words. In her fever she swings between hatred of the child's father and a mother's fierce tenderness.
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What is Paul Clifford about?
It follows an orphan raised in a London tavern who becomes the highwayman Captain Lovett, while also telling a love story with a young heiress and attacking the law's treatment of the poor.
Who is Paul Clifford based on?
Paul is an invented character, though the novel borrows from the tradition of famous highwaymen like Dick Turpin, whom the young Paul reads about, and the popular fascination with gentleman robbers.
When was Paul Clifford written?
It was published in 1830. The author wrote it as a lively satire of crime, law and politics in the years before the great reforms in Britain.
The author
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
1803–1873 · English novelist and politician
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) was a British novelist, playwright and politician. He was born in London and lived at Knebworth House in Hertfordshire. His novels include Paul Clifford (1830), The Last Days of Pompeii (1834), Zanoni (1842) and The Coming Race (1871). He served in Parliament and died in Torquay.
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