Originally published in serial form between 1846 and 1847, The String of Pearls is the penny-dreadful tale that gave the world Sweeney Todd — the murderous barber of Fleet Street whose victims meet a gruesome fate before being turned into Mrs. Lovett’s celebrated meat pies. Attributed primarily to James Malcolm Rymer, it is a foundational text of Victorian popular fiction and Gothic sensationalism.
Lurid, suspenseful, and steeped in the grimy atmosphere of nineteenth-century London, this novel has never stopped being adapted for stage and screen. Download this free EPUB from Better Gutenberg to read the original tale that started it all.