Under the Harrow [Paperback]

Mark Dunn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2010

What if Charles Dickens had written a contemporary thriller? In Under the Harrow, a group of Victorians live a semi-idyllic and unwitting, anachronistic existence, aided only by minimal trade-related contact with the supposedly plague-ridden Outland. They are products of an experiment that had become a lucrative, voyeuristic peep-box for millionaires and their billionaire descendants. But the experiment has run its course, and Dingley Dell must be totally expunged–and with it, all trace of the thousands of men, women, and children who live there. A few Dinglians learn the secret of both their manipulated past and their doomed future, and it is this motley group of Dickensian innocents who must race the clock to save their fellow countrymen and themselves from mass annihilation. Under the Harrow showcases the kind of dazzling wordplay and narrative richness that have made Mark Dunn's novels and plays both commercially successful and critically acclaimed.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Dingley Dell is a self-contained valley peopled by orphans, whose guardians abandoned them with only an encyclopedia and the works of Charles Dickens. From these beginnings comes a Victorian society whose limited trade with outsiders raises more question than it answers. Those who leave rarely return or are considered mad. The beginning drags a bit as the residents try to figure out what the reader already knows, but the tide turns and comes in fast once a runaway returns to the valley. Scribe-for-hire Trimmers and his friends, amateur sleuths disguised as a poetry society, discover that their strange world will come to a quick and bloody end unless they act. This sometimes perplexing but well-executed tale winds up feeling like a surprisingly hardy crossbreed of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and Eric Flint's 1632. (Dec.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Dickens lovers, rejoice! Dunn (Ella Minnow Pea, 2002) folds a nineteenth-century writing style into a delightfully original story spiced with wonderfully evocative names and personalities from the Dickens oeuvre. Every word in this leisurely paced treasure is meant to be savored. Every scene is a theatrical masterpiece, providing plentiful opportunity to bark with laughter, raise eyebrows in amazement, and sigh in despair. Dingley Dell, hidden in backcountry Pennsylvania, proceeds in its anachronistic Victorian style as an experiment begun decades ago, when Darwinian scientists wanted to know how a small society would evolve, given no new input from the outside world. Unaware of their true role in a larger scheme, people in the Dell are informed that a horrible plague has occurred, and they are to be quarantined for safety. Government corruption, greed, classism, and distrust are at the center of this story, told by Dell resident Frederick Trimmers, Esq., for the edification of Outlanders. Dingley Dell is truly “under the harrow”—that is, under fire—its residents the victims of a most dastardly deception. Similar to Orwell’s Animal Farm, with a hint of Jasper Fforde, this story will make you think and laugh at the same time. --Jen Baker --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 590 pages
• Publisher: MacAdam/Cage (February 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596923377
• ISBN-13: 978-1596923379
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,065,548 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mark Dunn at his best, September 15, 2010

By 

Sarah Eyre "s. e." (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Under the Harrow (Hardcover)

Another absolutely fantastic book from Mark Dunn. I read this and "Feral Park" within the same week- both of these books are amazing both in the way they mock the tropes of the original literature and in the way they readdress issues brought out in the original writings.

While there a lot of references and "in-jokes" that touch on the work of Dickens, don't let that put you off from reading this. If you haven't touched Dickens since college, you'll still enjoy this book- Dunn writes characters with depth and movement, and his pacing is fantastic.

As a huge fan of Victorian literature, I couldn't be happier with this- unless Dunn based a book around Thomas Hardy, that is.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very enjoyable, November 9, 2010

By 

Alyson D (Middlesex, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Under the Harrow (Kindle Edition)

I enjoyed the premise and language of this book. A group of orphans in an isolated valley woke up one day to find all of the adults gone. They had only an Encyclopedia Britannica, 9th edition (from 1890), a Bible, a book of poetry and the complete works of Dickens. The names and language used within Dingley Dell are straight from Dickens. Their community developed with no contact with others outside of their valley except for very limited trade. 100+ years later, some of the citizens start to suspect that there is more to their story. Why did one woman jump to her death? Why are those who return from the Outland locked away with no contact allowed with their families? The story is told by a resident of the Dell so his word choices and references and spelling are old fashioned. (My kindle dictionary was put to good use!) Overall, a very enjoyable book and I look forward to reading more by Mark Dunn.

5.0 out of 5 stars Imaginative and Fanciful, April 26, 2011

By 

Carla C. (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Under the Harrow (Hardcover)

What we have come to expect from Mark Dunn...a complex near-other world invested with humor and adventures. Similarities to J.R.R. Tolkien in its presentation of every detail, big and small, to surround the reader and place him/her right in the Dell. Complete with built-in lexicon provided at the end of each chapter. A delightful read.