The Penguin Podcast is back! Listen Now
The Murderer of Warren Street

The Murderer of Warren Street

The True Story of a Nineteenth-Century Revolutionary

Summary

A DAILY EXPRESS BOOK OF THE YEAR

REVOLUTIONARY. CONSPIRATOR. JAIL-BREAKER. FUGITIVE. DUELLIST. RADICAL. AND KILLER.

ON 8 December 1854, Emmanuel Barthélemy visited 73 Warren Street in the heart of radical London for the very last time. Within half an hour, two men were dead.

The newspapers of Victorian England were soon in a frenzy. Who was this foreigner come to British shores to slay two upstanding subjects? But Barthélemy was no ordinary criminal...

Marc Mulholland reveals the true story of one of nineteenth-century London's most notorious murderers and revolutionaries. Following in Barthélemy’s footsteps, he leads us from the barricades of the French capital to the English fireside of Karl Marx, and the dangling noose of London's Newgate prison, shining a light into a dark underworld of conspiracy, rebellion and fatal idealism.

The Murderer of Warren Street is a thrilling portrait of a troubled man in troubled times - full of resonance for our own terrorised age.

Reviews

  • [A] remarkable book. It’s an extraordinary story, full of incident, drama and dark comedy
    Daily Mail

About the author

Marc Mulholland

Marc Mulholland is a Professor of Modern History at St Catherine’s College, Oxford University. He specialises in the development of international socialism, the history of political thought, Revolution and modern Ireland. Marc is from County Antrim in Ireland, one of nine children. As his father was a forester he grew up in the woods at Portglenone. He lives in Oxford with his partner, Victoria.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more