Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature. The novel, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution, depicts the plight of the French peasantry in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same time period. Charles Darnay is a former French aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution who...

American Notes is Charles Dickens' detailing his trip to North America. While traveling he acted as a critical observer of North American society. His American journey was an inspiration for his novel Martin Chuzzlewit. "My readers have opportunities of judging for themselves whether the influences and tendencies which I distrusted in America, had, at that time, any existence but in my imagination. They can examine for themselves whether there has been anything in the public career of that country since, at home or abroad, which suggests that those influences and tendencies really did exist....

Charles Dickens' Bleak House is held to be one of Dickens' finest novels. It contains one of the most vast, complex and engaging arrays of characters and sub-plots in his entire canon. Many of this intricate novel's subplots deal with the minor characters and their ties to the main plot. The novel revolves around a long-running litigation in England's Court of Chancery, Jarndyce v Jarndyce. This case is about a testator who made several wills. The litigation consumed years and at great expense, is emblematic of the failure of Chancery. Dickens' assault on the flaws of the British judiciary...

CHARLES DICKENS' Children Stories is a collection of stories for children form one of history's finest storyteller. Included are: TROTTY VECK AND HIS DAUGHTER MEG, TINY TIM, LITTLE DOMBEY, THE RUNAWAY COUPLE, POOR JO , THE LITTLE KENWIGS, LITTLE DORRIT, THE BLIND TOY-MAKER, LITTLE NELL, LITTLE DAVID COPPERFIELD, JENNY WREN, PIP'S ADVENTURE.

Charles Dickens' David Copperfield is a story tracing the life of David Copperfield from childhood to maturity. Born in Blunderstone, Suffolk, near Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, David spends his early years with his mother and their housekeeper, Peggotty. When he is seven, his mother re-marries Edward Murdstone. David dislikes his stepfather when Murdstone attempts to thrash David for falling behind in his studies David bites him. He is soon afterwards sent away to a boarding school. David Copperfield is Dickens' most autobiographical novels based on the author's own tumultuous journey...

Charles Dickens' Dombey and Son is a novel concerning Paul Dombey, the wealthy owner of the shipping company whose dream is to have a son to continue his business. When his son is born his wife dies shortly after giving birth. Dombey employs a wet nurse while neglecting his daughter Florence. Dombey's callous neglect of his family triggers his professional and personal downfall. "Mr. Dombey undergoes no violent change, either in this book, or in real life. A sense of his injustice is within him, all along. The more he represses it, the more unjust he necessarily is. Internal shame and...

Great Expectations is often considered to be Dickens' finest novel. It is a coming-of-age novel that depicts the growth and personal development of an orphan, Pip, from a boy of shallow dreams to a man with depth of character. It is set among the marshes of Kent and in London in the early to mid-1800s and is full of extreme imagery, poverty, prison ships and fights to the death combining intrigue and unexpected twists. As Pip unravels the truth behind his own 'great expectations' in his quest to become a gentleman, the mysteries of the past and the convolutions of fate through a series of...

Set in Coketown, a fictional industrial town in the north of England, Hard Times appraises English society and is aimed at highlighting the social and economic pressures of the times. It was born of Dickens' indignation at the crushing conditions of the industrial age. Through Dickens we see a satiric vision of society tempered equally by righteous anger and compassionate humanity. As the shortest of Dickens's novels, Hard Times is considered his most pointed and impassioned satire of social injustice.