The Twickenham Peerage

"The Twickenham Peerage" by Richard Marsh is a novel written during the early 20th century. The story revolves around a dramatic mystery surrounding the character Montagu Babbacombe, who undergoes an extraordinary thirty-day sleep, prompting various characters to question his identity and the implications of his awakening. The central character, Douglas Howarth, is deeply entangled in his relationships with the families of Babbacombe and the elusive Twickenham, raising stakes concerning love, wealth, and the perils of the aristocracy. At the start of the novel, Babbacombe is showcased in a sideshow at the Westminster Aquarium, where onlookers are captivated by his uncanny ability to remain in a deep sleep without food or drink for an extended period. Douglas Howarth, who stumbles upon this spectacle, is struck with disbelief when he sees Babbacombe's resemblance to Leonard Sherrington, the missing Marquis of Twickenham. As the plot unfolds, Howarth is faced with the consequences of this uncanny resemblance, alongside the looming question of Twickenham's fate and the financial ruin that could follow upon his potential return. Themes of identity, deception, and fate are interwoven in this intricate opening, introducing readers to a world ripe with intrigue and potential revelations. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Richard Marsh was the pseudonym of the English author born Richard Bernard Heldmann. A best-selling and prolific author of the late 19th century and the Edwardian period, Marsh is best known now for his supernatural thriller novel The Beetle, which was published the same year as Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), and was initially even more popular, outselling Dracula six times over. The Beetle remained in print until 1960. Marsh produced nearly 80 volumes of fiction and numerous short stories, in genres including horror, crime, romance and humour. Many of these have been republished recently, beginning with The Beetle in 2004. Marsh's grandson Robert Aickman was a notable writer of short "strange stories".