While as beautifully written as ever, I found this more of a slog than any of the other half dozen or so of the author's historical novels I have read. It was rather repetitive in terms of Jack's rather unlikely sounding escapes and recaptures, though these are apparently based on the real life exploits of this early 18th century criminal, regarded as a hero in spite of his crimes, as per Dick Turpin. Jack's story was combined with a fairly routine 19th century romance of false identities, lost fortunes and disappearing family members. This lacked the impact of several of Ainsworth's other novels. ( )

Great pseudo-biography of a highwayman ( )

In 2010, Penguin Books published ten Victorian bestsellers as "Pocket Penguin Classics". These novels appeared without introduction and notes, which make the Penguin Classics series such a wonderful resource. Missing this critical apparatus in the 2010 Pocket Classics series, is quite a loss.

One of these ten Victorian bestsellers is William Harrison Ainsworth's historical novel Jack Sheppard, which was first published in 1839.

The story of Jack Sheppard is set in the early Eighteenth century, between 1703 and 1724. The historical novel deals with the life of Jack Sheppard. The novel consists of a fictionalised account of Sheppard's life entwined with a fictional, more romantic plot line. The characters which appear in that part of the novel referring to Sheppard's life are historical figures, notably Jack Sheppard, Jonathan Wild, and Blueskin. Alongside the story line of Jack Sheppard's notorious life, the novel tells the story of Thames Darrell, which is a type of "pauper & prince" plot added to the historical story.

The novel belongs to the particular genre known as the "Newgate novel". Novels belonging to this genre often portray and glorify the lives of criminals. Dickens' Oliver Twist is usually mentioned as an example of this type of novel.

The historical figure Jack Sheppard was a young, and handsome fellow, who excelled at escaping from prison. His good looks and tender age, Jack was executed at the age of 21, and his marvelous exploits escaping from prison, won him the sympathy of commoners in the early Eighteenth century. The execution order was regretted, and in the months before his execution various pamphlets appeared describing his biography. One of these authentic pamphlets was written by Daniel Defoe. Sheppard was visited in prison and had his portrait painted. References to these biographical facts are included in the novel.

Jack Shepard's main adversary in the novel is another historical figure, named Jonathan Wild. Wild is a very complex character, and central to understanding the plot of the novel. While Wild appears as a character in Jack Sheppard, Henry Fielding has written a novel, called Jonathan Wild.

The novel Jack Sheppard consists of three parts. The first part is set in 1703, and has the sub title "Jonathan Wild". Without a proper introduction to the background of the characters, the role of Jonathan Wild is hard to grasp. The action in this part of the novel is swift and confusing, and rather puzzling, as two infants are swapped and multiple characters appear and disappear in successive scenes. Reading this part of the novel is not very smooth. The style of writing lacks the suaveness of the novels by Dickens, and more resembles the somewhat cruder style of Walpole's The castle of Otranto.

The second part of the novel, dedicated to Thames Darrell, describes the youth of Jack Sheppard; Again, large parts of the story line are obscure. Both parts one and two of the novel describe the character of Owen Wood as particularly benevolent, and Jack Sheppard, apprenticed to Wood as a carpenter appears as a very naughty boy, but the figure of Darrell remains unclear. An interesting, unusual feature of the early part of the novel is the inclusion of various ballads.

However, the third and longest part of the novel, called "The prison-breaker", set in 1724, Sheppard's last year, is very well-written. This part of the novel is very exciting. It described various exploits of Jack Sheppard, particularly his many successful escapes from various prisons. In this part of the novel the full, evil genius of Jonathan Wild is unfolded, and the romantic plot around Thames Darrell is fully developed.

The novel features a number of characteristics of Victorian novels. There are some heart-rending descriptions of the treatment of people in the mad house, as well as prison. There are extensive descriptions of the architecture of the Newgate prison, and the architecture of Jonathan Wild's house is quite a marvel. This part of the novel introduces various characters which, though not central to the plot, are very interesting, notably the prison wardens. Last but not least, in the final part of the book, the readers feelings toward young Sheppard are so successfully swayed that he is less looked upon as a criminal, the more as a noble youth, who would deserve a spectacular Robin-Hood-fashion liberation.

Difficult to get into, and somewhat hard to read in the first 250 pages, especially the last part of the novel makes Jack Sheppard very well worth reading. ( )

Burglaries, attempted kidnapping, plots to obtain inheritances and to overthrow the king, vengeance, amazing escapes from prison, mad women, hidden nobles, love, drinking, and more! I owe this thoroughly fun read to a recommendation from another LTer, and what makes it even more fun is that Jack Sheppard was a real person who really did escape multiple times from some of the strongest prisons London had to offer in the early 18th century.

As the story opens, Jack is a baby; his father has been hanged and the man who was responsible for that, Jonathan Wild (also a real person) vows that Jack will repeat his father's fate. At the same time, the man who formerly employed Jack's father, while seeking to adopt Jack from his drunken mother, winds up through a twist of fate adopting another baby of mysterious origins, who he names Thames Darrell. This section provides an unforgettably vivid portrayal of the world of debtors and largely petty criminals in 17th century London, and of a number of colorful characters. The novel then jumps ahead 12 years and focuses on the two boys, starting to head in different directions, and the dastardly plotting between the uncle of Thames Darrell (who had not been aware he was alive) and the thoroughly evil Jonathan Wild. Again, the depictions of London life and of the various characters are wonderful. Finally, in the third section, nine years later in 1724, the action really takes off, as Jack carries out some of his most remarkable escapes and as the various subplots start to come together. In the end, of course, and I don't think this is a spoiler, Jack is hanged, much to the distress of all those, especially women, who love him, but justice is served in some other respects.

I was fascinated to learn the impact Jack Sheppard, the man, has had on art and literature. Not only did Harrison write this novel a century later, but Jack's contemporaries were also fascinated by him. John Gay based the character of Macheath on him in The Beggar's Opera, the precursor of The Threepenny Opera and Hogarth may have been inspired by his life for his series of engravings on "Industry and Idleness." Both these men make cameo appearances in the novel.

Much as I enjoyed this novel, there was, in typical Victorian fashion, a lot of extraneous detail about streets and other locations that meant nothing to me, and lots of criminal slang that I had to figure out from context (no notes in the edition I read). Finally, there were two stereotyped characters that sadly reflect what was probably perfectly acceptable in Harrison's day: a sycophantish, ultimately cowardly Jewish character (referred to as "the Jew") and a very strong but not too bright black man, and Harrison renders their speech in very poor English.