Product Description

For over 800 years Newgate was the grimy axle around which British society slowly twisted. This is where such legendary outlaws as Robin Hood and Captain Kidd met their fates, where the rapier-wielding playwrights Ben Jonson and Christopher Marlowe sharpened their quills, and where flamboyant highwaymen like Claude Duval and James Maclaine made legions of women swoon. While London's theatres came and went, the gaol endured as London's unofficial stage. From the Peasants Revolt to the Great Fire, it was at Newgate that Englands greatest dramas unfolded.

By piecing together the lives of forgotten figures as well as re-examining the prison's links with more famous individuals, from Dick Whittington to Charles Dickens, this thrilling history goes in search of a ghostly place, erased by time, which has inspired more poems and plays, paintings and novels, than any other structure in British history.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #159976 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 332 pages

Review

'A story of eyewatering misery . . . In a clear readable style that takes the reader at a pleasantly trotting pace through the centuries of oppression and inhumanity'

(Evening Standard )

'An enjoyable book' (Morning Star )

'Grovier’s book brings together the lives of forgotten figures and re-examines the prison’s links with more famous individuals'

(Publishing News )

'Reading Grovier reminds us of the desperation, corruption and crime that swirled around Newgate'

(Sue Baker, Publishing News )

'Grovier introduces a gallery of rogues and tells their fates with relish'

(Daily Mail )

'Gripping . . . Grovier’s treatment of the material organisation of the place is excellent . . . Newgate’s role in the evolution of London, in the creation of crime in the public imagination, in the development of the concept of the prison, is unmatched, and Grovier relates it compellingly'

(Daily Telegraph )

'A terrific read' (Scotsman )

'The author has a keen eye for the grisly detail . . . In many ways The Gaol is an upmarket extension of The Newgate Calender, the blood-and-guts, five-volume blockbuster full of all the gory details, that was on every 18th Century bookshelf'

(Mail on Sunday )

'Beguiling lyricism . . . He is interested in Newgate’s place in the collective psyche, ‘a more intimate story’ than historians have managed . . . vividly evoked'

(Sunday Telegraph )

‘Grovier revels in gory tales and colourful characters linked to the place’

(Sunday Telegraph )

‘Kelly Grovier’s colourful history traces how this incubator of horror and cruelty became such an iconic presence within popular history, combining a wealth of gruesome detail with portraits of the many characters associated with it'

(Metro )

'Grovier’s study is a sparkling tribute to a grim cultural phenomenon'

(Daily Express )

‘The text is rich in illustrative stories and annecdotes’

(Contemporary Review )

‘There are dozen of fascinating folk legends packed into this book’

(New Books )

About the Author
Kelly Grovier was educated at the University of California, Los Angeles and at Oxford University, where he wrote his doctorate on the eighteenth-century philosopher and adventurer `Walking` Stewart. He is the author of A lens in the palm `Carcanet, January 2008` and a regular contributor to The Times Literary Supplement and The Observer. He is the co-founder of the scholarly journal European Romantic Review and a lecturer at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

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Customer Reviews

Gripping Read
This book tells the story of Newgate Prison and the people who ended up inside it, from the famous to the now-forgotten. The book is also about London, and Grovier vividly recreates the ferment of the city as it developed over almost 1000 years.

I really enjoyed reading this; it's really well researched and beautifully written. A great read for anyone interested in London and social history; excellent pics too!

The Gaol
A well researched, intelligent, thorough history of Newgate prison, beautifully presented. As someone who does not read a lot of factual books, I found this an enjoyable read. I got the book after listening to some of the "Book of the Week" episodes on BBC Radio 4. Who knew so much could go on behind a jails four walls, I certainly didn't!

The Gaol: The Story of Newgate - London's Most Notorious Prison
Having read and researched quite a lot about London's grusome history, I found this book a really fascinating read and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys British history and true crime. Definately hard to put down!