Every writer knows the phrase “It was a dark and stormy night” — but few know it comes from the opening of Paul Clifford (1830) by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. The novel follows its orphaned hero from London’s criminal underworld to the road as a gentleman highwayman, blending Newgate criminal fiction with sharp social satire. Bulwer-Lytton intended it as a critique of a society that creates criminals through poverty and injustice.
Despite its notorious opening line, Paul Clifford is a serious and energetic novel full of picaresque adventure and moral argument. Download the free EPUB and read the book behind the most parodied sentence in the English language.