Books with title Come Rack! Come Rope

Come Rack! Come Rope! is a historical novel by the English priest and writer Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914), a convert to Catholicism from Anglicanism. Set in Derbyshire at the time of the Elizabethan persecution of Catholics, when being or harbouring 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. (Wikipedia)

Come Rack! Come Rope! is a dramatic novel set in England during the Elizabethan era; a time in which religion, and the violence which ensued after the Reformation, played a heavy role in everyday life. True to form, Robert Hugh Benson opens the novel in dramatic style. We are introduced to a seventeen year old couple, Robin Audrey and Marjorie Manners, who have become secretly engaged. While both are Catholic, they and their families live in rural Derbyshire at a time when Catholicism has become subject to persecution. We are led to contemplate not merely how the fate of the young couple will transpire, but how the entire community will cope with the animosity born of religious upheavals. Benson's research of the time shines, as certain characters pledge support to the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots and contemplate how to survive the violent oppression. The darkness of these days is reflected in the title of the book: the rack and rope were a method of torture, which was employed against many priests and openly religious people at the time. It was a common prelude to violent execution, such as being hung, drawn and quartered in public. Such events were intended to discourage Catholics from challenging the new order, and such terrifying, grisly barbarity commonly succeeded in its aims. Yet Robin, who becomes the novel's protagonist, is not cowed to submission by such horrific acts - he sets off to France to study in the priesthood instead. The scene in which he announces his intentions to his father is the novel's first major turning point; we realize that even the mutual romantic affection between he and Marjorie is not enough to dissuade him from following his calling - Marjorie humbly encourages him to pursue his course as set out by God. The intensity of spiritual beliefs, and consequences of defiance, are a recurring theme throughout this novel. Even when the author published this book in 1912, the 16th century persecutions were becoming less mentioned and remembered. Robert Hugh Benson is keen to reflect historical accuracy and minimize his personal outlook - that he, a Catholic priest, constructed a novel that portrays the time in an evenhanded manner, is a noteworthy accomplishment.

Come Rack, Come Rope is a gripping historical novel which takes place during Queen Elizabeth I’s persecution of English Catholics. Based on the real sufferings of a real Catholic family in particular, and Catholics across the country, Robert Hugh Benson’s classic novel is one of tragedy and loss, but also heroism and human and divine love. The novel follows Robin and Margaret, a young couple in love who forgo their affection when Margaret realizes Robin is called to the priesthood. Both play a critical role in caring physically and spiritually for their fellow Catholics during this time of terror. Discover their heroism, love, and sacrifice, and be inspired to live it out in our own frightful times in Come Rack, Come Rope.

Come Rack, Come Rope is a gripping historical novel which takes place during Queen Elizabeth I’s persecution of English Catholics. Based on the real sufferings of a real Catholic family in particular, and Catholics across the country, Robert Hugh Benson’s classic novel is one of tragedy and loss, but also heroism and human and divine love. The novel follows Robin and Margaret, a young couple in love who forgo their affection when Margaret realizes Robin is called to the priesthood. Both play a critical role in caring physically and spiritually for their fellow Catholics during this time of terror. Discover their heroism, love, and sacrifice, and be inspired to live it out in our own frightful times in Come Rack, Come Rope.

Come Rack, Come Rope is one of Robert Hugh Benson’s best-known novels. Based on true events and individuals in the time of the Elizabethan persecution of Catholics in England, Come Rack, Come Rope centers on Robin and Margaret, who give up their love for another and hope of marriage in order to minister to their persecuted neighbors. Masterfully weaving the historical source material with his own creative additions, Benson presents an unflinchingly truthful portrayal of the terror of those times along with an achingly beautiful depiction of true faith.

Very nearly the whole of this book is sober historical fact; and by far the greater number of the personages named in it once lived and acted in the manner in which I have presented them. My hero and my heroine are fictitious; so also are the parents of my heroine, the father of my hero, one lawyer, one woman, two servants, a farmer and his wife, the landlord of an inn, and a few other entirely negligible characters. But the family of the FitzHerberts passed precisely through the fortunes which I have described; they had their confessors and their one traitor (as I have said). Mr. Anthony Babington plotted, and fell, in the manner that is related; Mary languished in Chartley under Sir Amyas Paulet; was assisted by Mr. Bourgoign; was betrayed by her secretary and Mr. Gifford, and died at Fotheringay; Mr. Garlick and Mr. Ludlam and Mr. Simpson received their vocations, passed through their adventures; were captured at Padley, and died in Derby. Father Campion (from whose speech after torture the title of the book is taken) suffered on the rack and was executed at Tyburn. Mr. Topcliffe tormented the Catholics that fell into his hands; plotted with Mr. Thomas FitzHerbert, and bargained for Padley (which he subsequently lost again) on the terms here drawn out.

All this was as it should be. There were no doubts or disasters anywhere. Marjorie was an only daughter as he an only son. Her father, it is true, was but a Derby lawyer, but he and his wife had a good little estate above the Hathersage valley, and a stone house in it. As for religion, that was all well too. Master Manners was as good a Catholic as Master Audrey himself; and the families met at mass perhaps as much as four or five times in the year, either at Padley, where Sir Thomas' chapel still had priests coming and going; sometimes at Dethick in the Babingtons' barn; sometimes as far north as Harewood.And now a man's trouble was come upon the boy. The cause of it was as follows.Robin Audrey was no more religious than a boy of seventeen should be. Yet he had had as few doubts about the matter as if he had been a monk. His mother had taught him well, up to the time of her death ten years ago; and he had learned from her, as well as from his father when that professor spoke of it at all, that there were two kinds of religion in the world, the true and the false—that is to say, the Catholic religion and the other one. Certainly there were shades of differences in the other one; the Turk did not believe precisely as the ancient Roman, nor yet as the modern Protestant—yet these distinctions were subtle and negligible; they were all swallowed up in an unity of falsehood. Next he had learned that the Catholic religion was at present blown upon by many persons in high position; that pains and penalties lay upon all who adhered to it. Sir Thomas FitzHerbert, for instance, lay now in the Fleet in London on that very account. His own father, too, three or four times in the year, was under necessity of paying over heavy sums for the privilege of not attending Protestant worship; and, indeed, had been forced last year to sell a piece of land over on Lees Moor for this very purpose. Priests came and went at their peril…. He himself had fought two or three battles over the affair in St. Peter's churchyard, until he had learned to hold his tongue. But all this was just part of the game. It seemed to him as inevitable and eternal as the changes of the weather.- Taken from "Come Rack! Come Rope!" written by Robert Hugh Benson

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Perhaps the best known of Msgr. Benson's works, this novel has been reprinted many times since its publication in 1912. The drama and the characters therein have their basis in the real life account of a Catholic family-and of the sufferings of Catholics in general under- Elizabeth I of England. In this story of deep tragedy and terror Msgr. Benson portrays the conflict between natural, tender human passion and divine love, and its heroic resolution worked out in the hearts of the two principal characters, along with the development of the doctrine of vocation. Descriptions of profound insight into the physical and spiritual suffering of one persecuted and tortured for the faith. Beautiful book, cream paper, sewn signatures, cloth hardcover.

Excerpt from Come Rack! Come RopeVery nearly the whole of this book is sober historical fact; and by far the greater number of the personages named in it once lived and acted in the manner in which I have presented them. My hero and my heroine are fictitious; so also are the parents of my heroine, the father of my hero, one lawyer, one woman, two servants, a farmer and his wife, the landlord of an inn, and a few other entirely negligible characters. But the family of the FitzHerberts passed precisely through the fortunes which I have described; they had their confessors and their one traitor, (as I have said). Mr. Anthony Babington plotted, and fell, in the manner that is related; Mary languished in Chartley under Sir Amyas Paulet; was assisted by Mr. Bourgoign; was betrayed by her secretary and Mr. Gifford, and died at Fotheringay; Mr. Garlick and Mr. Ludlam and Mr. Simpson received their vocations, passed through their adventures; were captured at Padley, and died in Derby. Father Campion (from whose speech after torture the title of the book is taken) suffered on the rack and was executed at Tyburn. Mr. Topcliffe tormented the Catholics that fell into his hands; plotted with Mr. Thomas FitzHerbert, and bargained for Padley (which he subsequently lost again) on the terms here drawn out.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

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