10 h 33 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 10 h 33 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Beneath an elm tree, a sleepwalker digs and weeps where a murdered man once lay.
Edgar Huntly cannot leave his friend Waldegrave’s murder unexplained. Writing to Mary Waldegrave, his betrothed and the dead man’s sister, he describes a search that begins with a strange sight in the dark. The sleepwalker is Clithero Edny, an Irish servant whose troubled past seems to promise an answer.
In Charles Brockden Brown’s Gothic novel, the Pennsylvania frontier takes the place of haunted castles. Edgar’s pursuit leads from a farming district into caves, cliffs, and forest. As danger draws him onward, his faith in his own reason becomes part of the mystery. What can he trust when his own mind offers no firm ground?
What you’ll discover
- A mystery beneath the elm Follow Edgar toward the stranger he believes can explain his close friend’s violent death.
- A sleepwalker’s hidden burden Meet Clithero, whose secret past in Ireland gives Edgar fresh reasons to pursue him.
- Gothic terror close to home Enter a landscape of caves and forests where the wilderness replaces the haunted castle.
- A mind beyond certainty Explore the uneasy gap between Edgar’s good intentions and impulses he cannot fully understand.
- A letter shaped by grief Feel the urgency of Edgar’s account to Mary, whose brother’s murder sets everything in motion.
Who will love it
Readers drawn to Gothic suspense, dark caves, and midnight chases will love this novel. It also suits those fascinated by the early American novel, unreliable minds, and the unsettling atmosphere of a story told through letters.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Grief draws Edgar toward a mystery
- Suspicion turns pursuit into danger
- Kindness becomes the center of devotion
- Fear distorts Clithero's sense of guilt
- Compassion carries Edgar into the wilderness
- Hidden objects bring uncertainty closer
- Survival unsettles Edgar's belief in himself
- The search turns toward the self
Who’s who
- Edgar HuntlyA young man from Solesbury who writes the story. He wants to understand his friend's murder and soon follows secrets he can hardly bear.
- Clithero EdnyAn Irish servant who sleepwalks and carries a terrible burden of guilt. He wants to bury his past and suffer alone.
- SarsefieldEdgar's teacher and old friend, a surgeon who returns from Europe with great wealth and with a hatred of Clithero.
- WaldegraveEdgar's close friend, a gentle schoolmaster whose unexplained death near an elm drives Edgar to search for answers.
- WeymouthA friend of Waldegrave, back from shipwreck and illness, who comes to claim a sum of money he believes is his.
- Mrs. LorimerClithero's patroness, a wise and generous widow whose love for her wicked brother shapes the whole tragedy.
- Old DebAn elderly Delaware woman, called Queen Mab by Edgar, who lives alone with her dogs in the wilderness and claims it as hers.
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Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker
by Charles Brockden Brown · 1799
A sleepwalker digs beneath an elm at night, and Edgar Huntly follows him into the wilderness.
Medium level5–10 hours to read16 languages
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“I sit down, my friend, to fulfill your request.”
In short
What would you do if you saw a man dig a hole at midnight beneath a lonely elm, weep over it, and then walk straight past you as if you were not there? That is where Edgar Huntly begins.
Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h 5 min4 h 50 min fast, 7 h 15 min slow
- Length
- 87,100 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1799by Charles Brockden Brown
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
Grief draws Edgar back to the elm
The story opens with a promise kept. Edgar Huntly sits down to write to the sister of his friend Waldegrave, who was shot dead near an old elm close to the home of an old man named Inglefield. Edgar says he can now hold a pen steady, though his memory still burns.
He was walking home at night to his uncle's house. He could have taken a plain road. Instead grief and a hunger for answers pull him toward the elm. He has searched that ground a hundred times without result. He remembers the pistol shot, Inglefield's alarm, and his friend stretched on the grass with a mortal wound. No killer was seen and no clue was left.
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Details
- First published
- 1799
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 6 h 50 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Brown, Charles Brockden. Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/edgar-huntly-or-memoirs-of-a-sleep-walker.
Brown, C. B. (2026). Edgar Huntly; or, memoirs of a sleep-walker. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/edgar-huntly-or-memoirs-of-a-sleep-walker (Original work published 1799)
Brown, Charles Brockden. Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/edgar-huntly-or-memoirs-of-a-sleep-walker.
@book{brown2026edgar,
author = {Brown, Charles Brockden},
title = {Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/edgar-huntly-or-memoirs-of-a-sleep-walker},
note = {First published 1799}
}
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What is Edgar Huntly about?
It follows Edgar Huntly, a young man in Pennsylvania who traces the murder of his friend Waldegrave and meets a sleepwalking Irishman named Clithero. The search leads him into caves, cliffs, and a bitter struggle for survival on the frontier.
Who is Clithero in Edgar Huntly?
Clithero Edny is an Irish servant in the household of a man named Inglefield. He sleepwalks, carries a secret guilt from his past in Ireland, and tells Edgar a long confession about his patroness Mrs. Lorimer.
When was Edgar Huntly written and is it a true story?
Charles Brockden Brown published it in 1799. It is a work of fiction, set in the Pennsylvania backcountry, and it uses real dangers of the frontier such as caves, wild animals, and raids to build its suspense.
The author
Charles Brockden Brown
1771–1810 · American novelist and historian
Charles Brockden Brown was an American novelist, historian, and editor. He was born in Philadelphia in 1771 and died there in 1810. He also lived in New York City. His novels include Wieland, published in 1798, and Edgar Huntly, published in 1799. He edited magazines and wrote historical and political works.
“I sit down, my friend, to fulfill your request.”
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