14 minSummaryRead it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 344 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 344 pagesAbout this book
What can hold a master of disguise when every trap becomes another chance to escape?
Rocambole knows the underworld from the inside. Clever, ruthless and skilled at disguise, he builds his life around schemes and escapes. In The Hangman's Rope: The Last Adventures of Rocambole, Ponson du Terrail brings adventure and crime together under the shadow of pursuit, punishment and the question of justice.
The world around him holds police, prisons, informers and hidden dens. Crowds and alleys give secrets room to move, while shifting identities make appearances hard to trust. This is serial adventure with energy to spare: bold coincidence, melodramatic speech and striking disguises keep the story moving and the reader wanting more.
What you’ll discover
- A rogue worth watching Follow a clever criminal whose plans and disguises make him hard to hold.
- Secrets in the city Enter an underworld of hidden dens, crowded streets and identities that refuse to stay fixed.
- The pressure of pursuit Feel the danger of a world where police, prisons and informers surround the criminal life.
- Justice in the balance Consider what justice means when a criminal mastermind takes on a changed role.
- Adventure without restraint Enjoy bold coincidences, vivid disguises and villains who make no effort to soften their wickedness.
Who will love it
Perfect for readers who love breakneck escapes, secret passages, disguises and villains with elaborate plans, and who enjoy Victorian London and loyal servants.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Rocambole turns danger into an escape
- A small clue offers a way
- A dying man's promise binds Rocambole
- An empty grave protects the papers
- Family fear hides a violent wrong
- Envy gives a schemer his opening
- Promises cannot make a crime harmless
- Truth needs more than personal memory
- Small clues connect the two adventures
Who’s who
- RocamboleAlso called the Gray Man, he is a calm, daring leader who lets himself be jailed and later promises to help a condemned man.
- MilonA giant, brave and loyal, he follows Rocambole anywhere but fears what he cannot understand.
- MarmousetA quick-witted former engineering student who works out where to dig and takes charge when his chief is missing.
- VandaA devoted follower who has loved Rocambole for years and will do anything to find him.
- Betzy-JusticeA Scotswoman who has it in her to risk jail again and again to guard her husband's papers.
- TomThe loyal Scottish servant and foster brother of Lady Evelina, he will cross the world to find his lost young master.
- Father SamuelAn Irish priest in London who knows the Fenians' hidden ways and many secrets he will not share.
- Lord William PembletonA kind, honest young nobleman who loves Miss Anna and trusts his brother too much.
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The Hangman's Rope: The Last Adventures of Rocambole
A barrel of old gunpowder is the only hope of Rocambole, buried in a tunnel beneath Newgate prison.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“no problem is insurmountable if you know how to overcome it”
In short
What do you do when a tunnel collapses, a boulder seals the way out, and you find a barrel of gunpowder two hundred years old? Rocambole does the sums and decides to turn the passage into a cannon.
The Hangman's Rope: The Last Adventures of Rocambole at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h4 h fast, 5 h 55 min slow
- Length
- 71,300 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A barrel of old powder becomes a cannon
The story opens in the dark, with the tunnel beneath Newgate prison shaking apart. Rocambole has just broken out of jail with his band. Then a huge boulder blocks the passage down to the Thames.
Beside the path sits a barrel of gunpowder, two hundred years old. Young Polito thinks powder that old must be weak, but Rocambole says it is ten times stronger than new. The granite tunnel is like a gun barrel and the boulder like a bullet. So the band builds a thick wall of rubble behind the barrel, and Rocambole lengthens the short fuse with strips cut from a shirt.
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A barrel of old gunpowder is the only hope of Rocambole, buried in a tunnel beneath Newgate prison.
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Details
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
- Paperback
- 344 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Hardcover
- 344 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print paperback
- 532 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print hardcover
- 532 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Delivery and returns
- Printed when you order. Usually here in 12 to 14 days.Arrives Wed 2 Dec to Tue 8 Decto United States, printed for you at cost
For Christmas, order by Thu 12 Nov
Cite this edition
Ponson du Terrail, Pierre Alexis. The Hangman's Rope: The Last Adventures of Rocambole. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hangmans-rope-the-last-adventures-of-rocambole.
Ponson du Terrail, P. A. (2026). The hangman's rope: The last adventures of Rocambole. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hangmans-rope-the-last-adventures-of-rocambole
Ponson du Terrail, Pierre Alexis. The Hangman's Rope: The Last Adventures of Rocambole. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hangmans-rope-the-last-adventures-of-rocambole.
@book{ponson2026hangmans,
author = {Ponson du Terrail, Pierre Alexis},
title = {The Hangman's Rope: The Last Adventures of Rocambole},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hangmans-rope-the-last-adventures-of-rocambole}
}
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What is The Hangman's Rope about?
It follows Rocambole, the Gray Man, as he escapes a collapsing tunnel under Newgate prison. It also carries a long diary about a Scottish lord whose brother steals his name and sends him away under a false identity.
Who is Rocambole?
Rocambole is the hero of Ponson du Terrail's serial novels. In this book he is called the Gray Man, a clever, calm leader who lets himself be jailed in London and is loyal to his friends and to the people he promises to help.
What is the hangman's rope in the book?
English law lets a hanged man leave his rope to whomever he likes, and the rope was said to bring luck. Tom, a condemned prisoner, leaves his to Rocambole, who carries it around his waist during the escape.
The author
Ponson du Terrail
1829–1871 · French adventure novelist
French writer.
“no problem is insurmountable if you know how to overcome it”
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