Those of us who are not avid students of history can be forgiven for knowing nothing of the 'No Popery' riots of 1780. Barnaby Rudge provides an entertaining lesson in history.

The best comedy is supplied in the first third of the book which is set five years before the riots. A charming array of characters is introduced whom cover wide social strata. The Varden household dynamic and the society of apprentices provide almost pythonsque laughs. Grip, offers a surreal component as the pet of Barnaby Rudge who is himself unconvincing as a half wit. Convincing though are the baddies such as the uncouth criminal Hugh and the slimy deviant Sir Chester.

The second part which commences just prior to the riots lacks comedy but contains the best writing. It is a long novel but well worth the effort. I found myself impatient for the riots to begin, then when they begun I wanted them to finish, and then throughout the final chapters wished that there were more. Dickens serves out proportionately the comeuppance of each and actually rounds off nicely. So if you read Barnaby Rudge, savour, for it has a fine reward.

Having said all that, "Barnaby Rudge" holds up strongly as a book in its own right. The anti-Catholic Gordon Riots are virtually unknown to us these days (I have to admit, somewhat shamefully, I had never heard of them before, it was quite an eye-opener to find that such a devestating thing had happened in London!), but its central core theme of people becoming divided and wrecking havoc and hatred on each other is as relevant now as ever. Barnaby himself is a mentally-handicapped young man, and it is heartbreaking to see him allowing himself to be adopted by the cause in the belief that he will make his mother proud of him. It is also a delightful portrait of someone totally pure at heart caught up in a cynical, hate-filled world. I don't mean that to sound as though Dickens is preaching, (which would be off-putting to anyone just wanting a good read) because he isn't, nowhere does he allow that to happen.

As you would expect with Dickens there is a whole cast of strong, eccentric characters: the vain, uptight spinster Miss Miggs who seems to delude herself that every man she meets is fatally smitten with her, the almost feral-like Hugh the ostler, Dennis the Hangman, enthusiastically keen to get a rope round everybody else's neck but not so keen to see it near his own, Gabriel Varden, the salt-of-the-earth locksmith and his insufferably neurotic wife, and the immensely slappable Sir John Chester. The younger characters pale by comparison, though I have a soft-spot for Joe Willett, bullied by his overbearing father so much he has to run away from home and join the army. The central star-crossed love-story between Edward Chester (Protestant) and Emma Haredale (Catholic) virtually makes no impact at all, simply because the characters are so two-dimensional, and Dolly Varden is just a daft young flirt who realises, too late, that she's let a good bloke out of her grasp. Also much of the stuff surrounding Barnaby's mysterious father really doesn't make much impact at all. Rudge Snr simply doesn't come alive as a character. He's spent so long in the shadows that he seems to have become one!

What makes this book worth reading are obviously the Riots themselves, and showing the devestation it has on the ordinary people caught up in it, and the comedy set around the 'Maypole Inn'. Most importantly though, the character of Barnaby himself, and his talking black crow, Grip. Here you get Dickens's love of humanity and his compassion worked to great effect.

Underrated and almost forgotten, I had no pre-conceived ideas about "Barnaby Rudge", and was therefore pleasently surprised by how enjoyable I found it. The mentally impared title character is a charming one - the very personification of the purity Dickens attempted to capture in many of his novles. The plot, inspired by the Gordon riots of 1780, is a patchwork of inter-twining and enthralling adventures, sufficiently mysterious so as to both confound and delight the reader. The formidible stock of characters are all delightfully and vividly brought to life, and one cannot help but share in their joy and pain - I for one found myself cheering, weeping and smiling rediculously in the course of the book.

If there is one annoyance it is the lack of a substantial villian - in this novel, Dickens presents not one or two wholly evil creatures, but instead a handful of "baddies", each causing turmoil in their own way. Although all are thourghly detestably, none command the raw hatred felt for some of Dickens's more famous bad guys, such as Bill Sikes or Uriah Heep.

Nonetheless, "Barnaby Rudge" is still a brilliantly conceived novel and, flowing as it does from the pen of the master story-teller, cannot help but captivate the reader.