
Set against the bleak, rain‑swept landscape of northern England in 1838, the story opens at an illegal Chartist gathering on the high road between Gateshead and Durham. The night is thick with storm and secrecy, as working‑class voices rise against a system that refuses them a voice in Parliament. In the flickering torchlight, a mix of educated radicals and hard‑bitten miners grapple with the promise and peril of collective action.
At the centre stands Geoffrey Horner, a well‑born but restless gentleman‑radical whose intellect and ambition clash with the harsh realities of the movement he supports. Torn between moral persuasion and the lure of force, Horner must decide how far he is willing to go for a cause that both inspires and endangers him. As tensions mount, the night’s fragile alliances hint at the larger storm of conflict that looms on the horizon.
Language
en
Duration
~7 hours (404K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Release date
2004-06-01
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1862–1903
Known for brisk adventure stories and popular late-Victorian novels, this English writer published under the name Henry Seton Merriman and found a wide readership with books like The Sowers. His fiction often blends romance, politics, and travel with a fast-moving, old-world storytelling style.
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