Set at the time of the Gordon anti-Catholic riots of 1780, Barnaby Rudge is Dickens' powerful, atmospheric novel of madness, murder, and lurid mob violence. It is also a tale of love thwarted by the designs of Geoffrey Haredale and the villain Sir John Chester, and the heroism of Edward Chester in rescuing the innocent Emma. Other characters include Lord George Gordon himself, and Grip, the raven who inspired Edgar Allan Poe's poem.