Read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by email.
The respectable doctor, the vile little man, and the door between them.
A lawyer keeps meeting the same ugly question: what hold does the vile Mr. Hyde have over the respectable Dr. Jekyll? Stevenson's taut little shocker about the two natures in one man — still the sharpest version of the idea anyone has written.
Two or three minutes a day, and every installment opens with a line reminding you where you left off.
Six weeks from now, you will have read Stevenson.
45 installments, one an email
- First published
- 1886
- Installments
- 45
- Each installment
- 2–3 min
How long it takes
- Words
- 25,581
- Reading time
- 1 hour 47 minutes
- At 5 minutes a day
- 3 weeks
- At 10 minutes a day
- 11 days
- At 20 minutes a day
- 5 days
At 240 words a minute, the average for adult silent reading. Use your own speed
Why read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?
Everyone knows the twist — 'Jekyll and Hyde' entered the language within months of publication — and it does not matter at all, because the book is built as a detective story and the detective work still grips. Utterson the lawyer, dry and dependable, keeps pulling at a thread: a monstrous little man with a door key to a wealthy friend's laboratory, a will with an impossible clause, a murder witnessed by moonlight. Stevenson holds the explanation back until two sealed documents at the very end, and the last of them is one of the great confessions in fiction.
Stevenson wrote the first draft in three days, in bed, ill, allegedly after dreaming the transformation scene — then burned it when his wife said he'd written the allegory as a mere shocker, and rewrote it in three more. Victorian London bought forty thousand copies in six months; preachers sermonized on it, which is the Victorian equivalent of going viral.
At 25,000 words it is the shortest novel in the catalogue, and one of the most tightly made: ten chapters, each a single scene or document, ending in the two testimonies that turn the detective story inside out. Six weeks of mornings, and the last week is the reason the phrase entered the language.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?
About an hour and three quarters straight through (25,581 words). By email, it's 45 daily installments of two to three minutes — about six weeks, or faster at a premium pace of two or three installments a day.
I already know the twist — is it still worth reading?
Yes, and you are in good company: nearly every reader since 1886 has arrived knowing it. The book is a detective story, and watching Utterson work toward what you already suspect is half the pleasure. The other half is Jekyll's full statement at the end, which no summary has ever done justice.
Do the recaps spoil anything?
No — and this book is the reason our recap rules exist. Each recap covers only the previous installment, and treats the case exactly as the text has revealed it so far.
Do I need any background to enjoy it?
None. It opens with two men on a Sunday walk passing a shabby door, and a story about the door. Everything follows from that.
How does it arrive?
One installment per email, one email a day, at the hour you pick, with a one-line recap of the previous installment at the top. Free. Unsubscribe or pause anytime.
Standard Ebooks edition, public domain. Texts from Standard Ebooks and Project Gutenberg editions. Not affiliated with either.