The String of Pearls

Description

The String of Pearls: A Romance, co-authored by Thomas Peckett Prest and James Malcolm Rymer,was published in the form of an 18-part penny dreadful series (term used in the United Kingdom for popular literature published in weekly parts, usually costing a penny each) and it is the first story to feature Sweeney Todd, the murderous and demonic Fleet Street Barber who killed his clients and baked meat pies from their remains. Thomas Peckett Prest and James Malcolm Rymer probably took turns writing the installments in 1846-1847 and they worked together while assembling the story into book form. The book was published in 1850.

The story takes place in 1785, in London. It starts with the disappearance of Lieutenant Thornhill, a sailor who entered Todd’s barber shop and never came out. Colonel Jeffrey, one of Thornhill’s friends, starts investigating the case. When Thornhill disappeared, he was carrying a string of pearls that he was supposed to give to Johanna Oakley, the lover of Mark Ingestrie, an acquaintance of Thornhill’s who had had allegedly disappeared while at sea. Johanna joins the colonel in his investigation. It turns out that Mark himself is also one of Todd’s victims, fortunately still alive, and after a lot of ghastly events, the dreadful barber gets punished.

The String of Pearls is a true example of the genre it belongs to. Most penny dreadful stories feature violence, terror and death, the storytelling using all the tools to bring out the atavistic fear of such atrocities in the reader. Cannibalism is also a frequently used element, and this story uses the tool as well to create the most powerful impact. The vivid imagery and the violent story makes The String of Pearls especially suitable for film adaptations – the musical created from it in 2007 under the title Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street features an A-list cast and it has won numerous awards, including an Oscar.
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