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Audiobook edition · 12 h 50 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the shelter you find on a wet London night belongs to something that can steal your will?
In Richard Marsh’s The Beetle, hungry, unemployed clerk Robert Holt enters a house that seems empty. Its owner is a shape-shifting creature with the power to bend minds. Forced to steal papers from rising politician Paul Lessingham, Holt becomes a tool in a revenge rooted in Lessingham’s hidden past. Shelter turns into captivity, and fear follows him into the streets.
The story passes from Holt to proud inventor Sydney Atherton, spirited Marjorie Lindon, and private detective Augustus Champnell. Each holds only part of the mystery. Atherton loves Marjorie and resents Lessingham, her fiancé; Marjorie herself becomes hunted. Across cheap lodgings and grand drawing rooms, personal loyalties meet a danger that reason alone may not explain.
What you’ll discover
- A will under siege Follow Holt into the terror of obeying a master he cannot refuse.
- Four voices, scattered clues Piece together the danger as each narrator reveals a different part of the mystery.
- Love tangled with rivalry Meet an inventor whose love for Marjorie sharpens his resentment of Lessingham.
- London behind the fog Move through rain-soaked streets, poor lodgings, and drawing rooms shadowed by the same threat.
- Fear beneath the shocks Explore a Gothic tale that exposes Victorian Britain’s fear of the foreign.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy Victorian sensation stories, hypnotism, ancient cults, mysteries told through several voices, and foggy London streets will love this book.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Hunger opens a dangerous door
- Holt loses control of his body
- Two words expose a hidden terror
- Science meets an unexplained power
- Marjorie follows love into danger
- A hidden past becomes a pursuit
- Freedom depends on more than willpower
- Public confidence conceals private fears
- Each witness sees only a piece
Who’s who
- Robert HoltAn out-of-work City clerk, starving and desperate, who climbs through an open window and falls under a stranger's will.
- The man in the bedA hideous, unblinking stranger with a powerful stare who hates Paul Lessingham and wants his letters.
- Paul LessinghamA rising Radical politician, famous for his cool nerve, who hides a past that frightens him and wants to marry Marjorie.
- Marjorie LindonA clear-headed, spirited young woman who loves Lessingham, defies her father and will not stay out of danger.
- Sydney AthertonA brilliant, impulsive inventor who loves Marjorie, scorns Lessingham, and cannot resist a scientific puzzle.
- Geoffrey LindonMarjorie's proud, stuttering father, a stubborn Tory who forbids her to speak to Lessingham.
- Dora GraylingA kind, wealthy young woman who quietly cares for Atherton and offers to fund his work.
- Augustus ChampnellA calm confidential agent who takes Lessingham's case and follows the trail across London.
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The Beetle in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Beetle
by Richard Marsh · 1897
A starving clerk climbs through an open window and meets a creature that sends him to burgle Paul Lessingham.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“Paul Lessingham! Beware! The Beetle!”
In short
What would you do for a loaf of bread? Robert Holt, a clerk out of work for nine months, has eaten almost nothing in three days when the casual ward at Hammersmith turns him away.
The Beetle at a glance
- Reading time
- About 7 h5 h 35 min fast, 8 h 20 min slow
- Length
- 100,000 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1897by Richard Marsh
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
Hunger and rain push an honest man inside
The story opens with a slammed door. Robert Holt, a City clerk, has looked for work for nine months. Now the casual ward at Hammersmith says it is full, and he has taken nothing but water and one crust since Sunday night.
He walks off into the rain along an unfinished road, dizzy and close to falling. He cries out that he would do anything for a loaf of bread. Then he sees a small villa standing alone, with one window open about six inches. He tells himself the house must be empty, and step by step he argues himself through the sash.
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Details
- First published
- 1897
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Marsh, Richard. The Beetle. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-beetle.
Marsh, R. (2026). The beetle. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-beetle (Original work published 1897)
Marsh, Richard. The Beetle. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-beetle.
@book{marsh2026beetle,
author = {Marsh, Richard},
title = {The Beetle},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-beetle},
note = {First published 1897}
}
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What is The Beetle by Richard Marsh about?
It is a Victorian horror mystery about a menacing figure who hypnotizes a homeless clerk and tries to ruin the politician Paul Lessingham. Four narrators follow the threat across London as Marjorie Lindon is drawn into the danger.
Who is the Beetle in the novel?
The Beetle is the name tied to a hidden, shape-shifting foe linked to an ancient Egyptian cult of Isis. Characters know it by its eyes, its power over the mind, and the fear that the word alone brings.
Is The Beetle a true story?
No, it is a work of fiction written in the 1890s. It borrows real fashions of its time, such as interest in mesmerism, Egyptian lore and Parliament, but its events and characters are invented.
The author
Richard Marsh
1857–1915 · English horror novelist
Richard Marsh was the pen name of Richard Bernard Heldmann, a British author born in London in 1857. He lived in England and died in 1915. He wrote horror, crime, and humorous fiction. His novel The Beetle appeared in 1897. He also published novels and short stories under his own name.
“Paul Lessingham! Beware! The Beetle!”
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