The Morrin Centre in Quebec City, built on the site of military barracks known as the Royal Redoubt, served first as a "common gaol" (public prison), then as the Morrin College, the first English-language institute of higher education in the city, and has been home to the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec for many years. The Society has hosted in its astonishing library such illustrious figures as Charles Dickens and Emmelyne Pankhurst. With incredible anecdotes, the authors guide us through the building's two-century history and its place in the history of Quebec City, Quebec, and Canada.