More from Charles Dickens
Bleak House
Opening in the swirling mists of London, the novel revolves around a court case that has dragged on for decades -- the infamous Jarndyce and Jarndyce lawsuit,
in which an inheritance is gradually devoured by legal costs. As Dickens takes us through the case’s history, he presents a cast of characters as idiosyncratic
and memorable as any he ever created, including the beautiful Lady Dedlock, who hides a shocking secret about an illegitimate child and a long-lost love; Mr.
Bucket, one of the first detectives to appear in English fiction; and the hilarious Mrs. Jellyby, whose endless philanthropy has left her utterly unconcerned
about her own family.
David Copperfield
Dickens’s favorite of all his novels, David Copperfield is the story of a boy who loses both parents at an early age, and who escapes the torture of
working for his pitiless stepfather to make something of himself and, with any luck, find true happiness. The book features an unforgettable gallery of
characters, including David’s cruel stepfather Mr. Murdstone, the unctuous Uriah Heep, the amiable Mr. Micawber, whom Dickens based on his father, and Dora
Spenglow, whom David marries and calls his “child-wife.” Written in the first person, it is perhaps the most autobiographical of Dickens’s fiction.
Great Expectations
In an overgrown churchyard, a grizzled convict springs upon an orphan named Pip. The convict terrifies the young boy and threatens to kill him unless Pip
helps further his escape. Later, Pip finds himself in the ruined garden where he meets the bitter and crazy Miss Havisham and her foster child Estella, with
whom he immediately falls in love. After a secret benefactor gives him a fortune, Pip moves to London, where he cultivates great expectations for a life which
would allow him to discard his impoverished beginnings and socialize with the idle upper class. As Pip struggles to become a gentleman and is tormented endlessly
by the beautiful Estella, he slowly learns the truth about himself and his illusions.
Hard Times
Set amid smokestacks and factories, Hard Times is a blistering portrait of Victorian England as it struggles with the massive economic turmoil brought
on by the Industrial Revolution. Championing the mind-numbing materialism of the period is Thomas Gradgrind, one of Dickens’s most vivid characters. He opens
the novel by arguing that boys and girls should be taught “nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life.” Forbidding the development of imagination,
Gradgrind is ultimately forced to confront the results of his philosophy -- his own daughter’s terrible unhappiness.
Nicholas Nickelby
Left penniless by the death of his improvident father, young Nicholas Nickleby assumes responsibility for his mother and sister and seeks help from his
Scrooge-like Uncle Ralph. Instantly disliking Nicholas, Ralph sends him to teach in a school run by the stupidly sadistic Wackford Squeers. Nicholas decides
to escape, taking with him the orphan Smike, one of Squeers’s most abused young charges, and the two embark on a series of adventurous encounters with an
array of humanity’s worst and best—greedy fools, corrupt lechers, cheery innocents, and selfless benefactors.
Oliver Twist
After escaping from the dark and dismal workhouse where he was born, Oliver finds himself on the mean streets of Victorian-era London and is unwittingly
recruited into a scabrous gang of scheming urchins. In this band of petty thieves Oliver encounters the loathsome Fagin, the beautiful and tragic Nancy, the
crafty Artful Dodger, and perhaps one of the greatest villains of all time -- the terrifying Bill Sikes. Rife with Dickens’s disturbing descriptions of street
life, the novel is buoyed by the purity of the orphan Oliver. Though he is treated with cruelty and surrounded by coarseness for most of his life, his pious
innocence leads him at last to salvation, and the shocking discovery of his true identity.
A Tale of Two Cities
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” With these famous words, Dickens plunges the reader into one of history’s most explosive eras --
the French Revolution. From the storming of the Bastille to the relentless drop of the guillotine, Dickens vividly captures the terror and upheaval of that
tumultuous period. At the center is the novel’s hero, Sydney Carton, a lazy, alcoholic attorney who, inspired by a woman, makes the supreme sacrifice on the
bloodstained streets of Paris.
. It is a very well read and dramatised serial on radio 4 of Dombey & Son:-
