The Pit and the Pendulum

Written by Edgar Allan Poe · Illustrated by Felix Bennett

Part of the Real Reads series

Condemned by the Inquisition, a prisoner faces unknown horrors in a dark cell.

3.7/5 Goodreads · 9 ratings

64 pages

$7.95Save 5%

Out of stock at Bookroo right now. Also at Amazon or Bookshop.

Bookroo's summary

In the depths of Toledo Prison, a condemned man grapples with the terror of his impending death. Trapped in darkness, he confronts the pit's abyss and a pendulum's deadly swing. As the walls close in, glowing with heat, he wonders about the minds behind such torment. Can he escape this nightmare, or will the Inquisition's grip tighten? Experience his harrowing journey where every moment could be his last, and the form of death remains a haunting mystery. Will he find salvation, or is he doomed to succumb to the shadows?

From the publisher

The blackness of eternal night encompassed me. The intense darkness oppressed and stifled me so that I struggled for breath. Having been condemned to death by the Spanish Inquisition, the narrator descends into a kind of hell. Dizzy with weakness and fainting with fear, he experiences such torments that death itself would be welcome. What troubles him most is the eternal question: how will he die? Toledo Prison is notorious for the torture of the condemned. What minds have dreamed up the terror of the pit in the center of the cell? What is the significance of the painted figure of Time with his menacing pendulum? Why do the walls glow with heat? Experience with the narrator the intensity of his suffering when death seems inevitable but its form uncertain. Can anything, or anybody, help him? Real Reads are accessible texts designed to support the literacy development of primary and lower secondary age children while introducing them to the riches of our international literary heritage. Each book is a retelling of a work of great literature from one of the world’s greatest cultures, fitted into a 64-page book, making classic stories, dramas and histories available to intelligent young readers as a bridge to the full texts, to language students wanting access to other cultures, and to adult readers who are unlikely ever to read the original versions.

At a glance