Sweeney Todd: The Barber of Fleet Street

The original, serialized story of Sweeney Todd, presented here, recounts the disappearance of persons around the mysterious barber shop of Fleet Street. When Johanna Oakley suspects Mr. Todd is involved in the disappearance of her lover, she investigates the barber’s activities, uncovering an unfathomably heinous business involving the pie shop next door. The String of Pearls, as it was originally called, is a quintessential example of the cheap Victorian “penny dreadful”, which circulated among readers with an appetite for thrilling and violent stories.