First published in 1845, Le Fanu's
The Cock and Anchor
is one of the most interesting historical novels written in Ireland in the nineteenth century. It is many things at once: a record of Victorian Irish mores, a story of love struggling against class prejudice, a study of crime and punishment, and an engaging thriller. But first and foremost it is a full-bodied, energetic portrait of mid-nineteenth-century Dublin. The volume includes an exciting introduction, notes, and contemporary reviews.