Caleb Williams; Or, Things as They Are

Godwin wrote this novel to destroy the English legal system. That ambition alone should tell you everything. When young Caleb Williams accepts a position as secretary to the distinguished Mr. Falkland, he expects to rise in the world. Instead, he stumbles upon a secret that will destroy his life: his employer, the paragon of gentility, is a murderer. What follows is a harrowing descent into persecution, as Falkland uses his wealth, influence, and the full weight of English law to destroy the one man who knows the truth. Written from a prison cell where Caleb composes his defense, this is part confession, part political screed, part psychological thriller. It is the original paranoid narrative about a system rigged to protect the powerful while crushing the innocent. More than two centuries later, it remains unsettling in its portrayal of how privilege shields the guilty.