Come Rack! Come Rope!

Robert Hugh Benson (1871 - 1914)

Come Rack! Come Rope! is a historical novel by the English priest and writer Robert Hugh Benson, a convert to Catholicism from Anglicanism. Set in Derbyshire at the time of the Elizabethan persecution of Catholics, when being or harboring a priest was considered treason and was punishable with death, it tells the story of two young lovers who give up their chance of happiness together, choosing instead to face imprisonment and martyrdom, so that "God's will" may be done.

The book was written nearly nine years after Benson's reception into the Catholic Church. The inspiration for the story comes from Dom Bede Camm's account of the recusant Fitzherbert family in Forgotten Shrines (1910), and from Benson's own visit in 1911 to Padley, home of the Fitzherberts, and scene of part of the novel, in order to preach at the annual pilgrimage there. The title of the book is taken from a letter of Saint Edmund Campion in which, after torture, he assured Catholics that he had revealed "no things of secret, nor would he, come rack, come rope." Most of the characters in the book are historical people; only the hero and heroine, their parents, and some minor characters are fictional. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia)

Genre(s): Historical Fiction, Religious Fiction

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 00 00 - Preface Maria Therese
00:03:46
Play 01 01 - Part 1, Chapter 1 James E. Carson
00:46:59
Play 02 02 - Part 1, Chapter 2 James E. Carson
00:28:23
Play 03 03 - Part 1, Chapter 3 James E. Carson
00:27:09
Play 04 04 - Part 1, Chapter 4 James E. Carson
00:28:33
Play 05 05 - Part 1, Chapter 5 James E. Carson
00:22:13
Play 06 06 - Part 1, Chapter 6 James E. Carson
00:22:50
Play 07 07 - Part 1, Chapter 7 James E. Carson
00:29:24
Play 08 08 - Part 1, Chapter 8 James E. Carson
00:24:51
Play 09 09 - Part 1, Chapter 9 James E. Carson
00:16:09
Play 10 10 - Part 2, Chapter 1 James E. Carson
00:16:02
Play 11 11 - Part 2, Chapter 2 James E. Carson
00:25:04
Play 12 12 - Part 2, Chapter 3 James E. Carson
00:24:00
Play 13 13 - Part 2, Chapter 4 James E. Carson
00:23:05
Play 14 14 - Part 2, Chapter 5 James E. Carson
00:21:44
Play 15 15 - Part 2, Chapter 6 James E. Carson
00:19:46
Play 16 16 - Part 2, Chapter 7 James E. Carson
00:21:30
Play 17 17 - Part 2, Chapter 8 James E. Carson
00:35:55
Play 18 18 - Part 2, Chapter 9 James E. Carson
00:19:28
Play 19 19 - Part 2, Chapter 10 James E. Carson
00:22:35
Play 20 20 - Part 3, Chapter 1 James E. Carson
00:28:13
Play 21 21 - Part 3, Chapter 2 James E. Carson
00:26:48
Play 22 22 - Part 3, Chapter 3 James E. Carson
00:20:33
Play 23 23 - Part 3, Chapter 4 James E. Carson
00:28:59
Play 24 24 - Part 3, Chapter 5 James E. Carson
00:17:27
Play 25 25 - Part 3, Chapter 6 James E. Carson
00:24:45
Play 26 26 - Part 3, Chapter 7 Phil Chenevert
00:21:48
Play 27 27 - Part 3, Chapter 8 Phil Chenevert
00:15:45
Play 28 28 - Part 4, Chapter 1 Helen Falconer
00:17:38
Play 29 29 - Part 4, Chapter 2 Helen Falconer
00:15:34
Play 30 30 - Part 4, Chapter 3 James E. Carson
00:38:27
Play 31 31 - Part 4, Chapter 4 James E. Carson
00:19:23
Play 32 32 - Part 4, Chapter 5 James E. Carson
00:29:05
Play 33 33 - Part 4, Chapter 6 James E. Carson
00:15:12
Play 34 34 - Part 4, Chapter 7 James E. Carson
00:16:07
Play 35 35 - Part 4, Chapter 8 James E. Carson
00:19:08
Play 36 36 - Part 4, Chapter 9 James E. Carson
00:27:06