The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Content Warning: The novel and the guide reference drug addiction, colonialism, and racist beliefs.

Reverend Crisparkle lives with his mother, Mrs. Crisparkle. One morning, they receive a letter from a man named Mr. Honeythunder, who is married to Mrs. Crisparkle’s sister. He is planning to send two young orphans, Neville and Helena Landless, to Cloisterham; Neville will stay with Reverend Crisparkle, and Helena will stay at the girls-school at the Nuns’ House (where Rosa also lives). Revered Crisparkle quickly begins planning a dinner so that Neville and Helena can meet new people, especially young people such as Edwin Drood and Rosa Bud, reasoning that “youth takes to youth” (52).

A short time later, Neville, Helena, and Mr. Honeythunder arrive in Cloisterham. Mr. Honeythunder is loud, rude, and disruptive. He largely ruins the dinner, and everyone is very happy when he leaves the town that night.

Neville and Crisparkle accompany Honeythunder to the station; as they walk back, Neville explains more of his and Helena’s history to Reverend Crisparkle. Neville reveals that he and Helena grew up in Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka, which was under British colonial control in the 19th century); their mother died when they were young, and they were raised by an abusive and cruel stepfather.