''Dodger'' is a novel written by Terry Pratchett, set in early

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and inspired by

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

's character the Artful Dodger. The book was released on 13 September 2012 in the UK.

Plot

One night on the streets of London, a battered young woman leaps from a

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...

, followed and assaulted by two men. The protagonist Dodger, a street urchin and

tosher A tosher is someone who scavenges in the sewers, a sewer-hunter, especially in London during the Victorian era. The word tosher was also used to describe the thieves who stripped valuable copper from the hulls of ships moored along the Thames. T ...

, emerging from a sewer drain, comes to her help and chases away the attackers. This is witnessed by two gentlemen, Charlie and Henry, who take the girl to the latter's nearby home, accompanied by Dodger. A doctor treats her injuries and discovers that she was pregnant and the child is lost. Dodger's actions impress the gentlemen, as does the genuine affection they quickly see growing between him and the girl, who is tentatively called Simplicity. Charlie gives Dodger the task of finding information on the streets about her and the carriage from which she escaped. During the next days, Dodger thwarts a robbery attempt at the offices of the ''

Morning Chronicle ''The Morning Chronicle'' was a newspaper founded in 1769 in London. It was notable for having been the first steady employer of essayist William Hazlitt as a political reporter and the first steady employer of Charles Dickens as a journalist. It ...

'' when meeting Charlie, and causes the arrest of a murderous barber named Sweeney Todd when he tries to improve his appearance before meeting Simplicity. These incidents turn Dodger into a celebrity, which helps him gather information, but also make it impossible for him to stay anonymous. This endangers Simplicity and prompts Charlie to have her moved to the house of his rich friend Angela Burdett-Coutts. Through their activities (and from the recovered Simplicity herself), Charlie and Dodger learn that the girl had secretly married a prince of one of the German states and thereby become an obstacle to a planned political marriage. Her husband had then done nothing against his family's decision to destroy all evidence of the unsanctioned marriage, including Simplicity herself – the vicar and two witnesses to the wedding have already been killed. This political dimension of the case (along with his celebrity status) soon have Dodger meet some of the Empire's top politicians, such as

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...

and

Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer ...

. He learns that the family of Simplicity's husband is pressuring the British government to return her, and that the government cannot outright refuse this demand. Additionally, a mysterious assassin known only as the Outlander is rumoured to be looking for Dodger and Simplicity. Dodger decides that the only solution is to fake Simplicity's death. Through subterfuge, he acquires the body of a girl looking similar to Simplicity who had died through

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

, and prepares it to be found after a faked attack (during which the real Simplicity would hide) witnessed by Charlie and Disraeli during a planned excursion into London's sewers. The plan is nearly foiled when the Outlander appears, turning out to be a woman. However, with the help of Simplicity, Dodger manages to defeat the assassin and go through with the plan after all. The two young lovers hide a while in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

and then return to London, where Dodger has an audience with

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

and is offered work as a

spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

for the government, which he accepts as it suits his talents.

Characters

* Dodger, the main protagonist. He earns his livelihood as a

, looking for valuables in the sewers and early in the story he is given the title "king of the toshers". He considers himself a "

geezer Geezer is a slang term for a man. * In the UK and Ireland, it is used most often to refer simply to a man, e.g. "some geezer was here earlier", and less often as a complimentary phrase, e.g. "he is a proper geezer". * In the US, the term typically ...

" and despite his young age he has earned respect amongst the poor in London. * Simplicity is a mysterious girl that Dodger rescues from being beaten by two men at the beginning of the story. It is implied that she is of noble heritage and married to a prince from one of the German states. After a series of incidents of domestic violence, she fled to England, only to be pursued by her husband and his father, which prompts Dodger to try to defend her. She is given the name "Simplicity" by Henry Mayhew's wife and her real name is never revealed. After Dodger helped her fake her death, she calls herself "

Serendipity Serendipity is an unplanned fortunate discovery. Serendipity is a common occurrence throughout the history of product invention and scientific discovery. Etymology The first noted use of "serendipity" was by Horace Walpole on 28 January 1754. I ...

". * Solomon Cohen, an elderly craftsman who lives with Dodger in the Seven Dials

rookery A rookery is a colony of breeding animals, generally gregarious birds. Coming from the nesting habits of rooks, the term is used for corvids and the breeding grounds of colony-forming seabirds, marine mammals (true seals and sea lions), and ev ...

and acts as his mentor. He has a very smelly dog called " Onan" which Dodger likes to spend time with. Solomon's past is alluded several times in the novel, such as fleeing Russia from persecution and travelling the world afterwards. He is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

but has a liberal view about many things and he is a member of the

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. *

, a journalist and writer who also appears to have a vast knowledge of the circumstances in which Dodger lives. * Henry Mayhew, is a friend of Charlie who (together with his wife) first takes care of Simplicity while she recovers. He is also very interested in improving the conditions for London's poorest citizens. The novel is dedicated to the real Mayhew in honour of his work drawing attention to the plight of London's poorest through his book '' London Labour and the London Poor''. * Angela Burdett-Coutts, an independent woman who inherited a large sum of money and who uses her wealth and connections to help those who need it. She takes in Simplicity after it became clear that she was not safe at Mayhew's house and uses her resources to protect her. *

, an up-and-coming young politician and friend of Charlie. He is introduced as a member of parliament and plays a supporting role in Dodger's scheme to fake Simplicity's death. * Sir

, the head of police in London. The police officers in the novel are called " peelers" because of him. Despite his official statements, he is supportive of Simplicity's wish not to be returned to her husband and is willing to overlook a number of Dodger's activities in order to accomplish this. * The Outlander, a wanted assassin who is called to kill Simplicity and Dodger. The authorities have been finding it hard to catch a man who seems to look different every time he commits a crime, failing to notice that there is always the same woman at his side. * Mr. Tenniel, an illustrator for ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'' who completes an illustration of Dodger. * Sweeney Todd, a barber traumatised by his experiences in the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. Suffering from PTSD, he believes that his customers are soldiers he could not save in the war coming back to life which leads him to kill them. Dodger becomes a hero by disarming him but he assesses the situation correctly (that Todd is not to blame for his actions) and uses some of the money he comes into to improve Todd's life in

Bedlam Bedlam, a word for an environment of insanity, is a term that may refer to: Places * Bedlam, North Yorkshire, a village in England * Bedlam, Shropshire, a small hamlet in England * Bethlem Royal Hospital, a London psychiatric institution and the ...

. *

Joseph Bazalgette Sir Joseph William Bazalgette CB (; 28 March 181915 March 1891) was a 19th-century English civil engineer. As chief engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works, his major achievement was the creation (in response to the Great Stink of 1 ...

, a civil engineer, interested in the sewers. *

Charles Babbage Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Babbage is considered ...

, made a mechanical computer, called his

Analytical Engine The Analytical Engine was a proposed mechanical general-purpose computer designed by English mathematician and computer pioneer Charles Babbage. It was first described in 1837 as the successor to Babbage's difference engine, which was a des ...

. *

Ada Lovelace Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (''née'' Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the A ...

, the first programmer and, "A credit to her father" — being a reference to

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

. *

Dick Turpin Richard Turpin (bapt. 21 September 1705 – 7 April 1739) was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's trade as a butcher ear ...

, highwayman.

Setting

According to the author's afterword, the story is set "broadly in the first quarter of Queen Victoria's reign", which would be between 1837 and 1853. However, Pratchett had to "tweak" history a little to get the combination of persons he wanted in place: specifically, Sir Robert Peel is shown as

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

, which he was under Victoria's predecessor William IV.

Sequel

In November 2013, Pratchett released ''Dodger's Guide to London''.

References

External links

Dodger on terrypratchettbooks.com
{{Authority control Novels by Terry Pratchett 2012 British novels Novels set in London Novels set in Victorian England Doubleday (publisher) books