Charles Dickens Collection

Three of Dickens's most compelling orphan protagonists-Oliver Twist, Pip, and Esther Summerson-in three of his greatest novels. Perhaps no writer in the English language is more closely associated with orphaned characters than Charles Dickens. The trials and dangers for children without parental protection play a significant part in nearly all his work, as both a source of highly entertaining melodrama and pointed social criticism. Oliver Twist: Having endured deplorable conditions in an orphans' workhouse, Oliver Twist eventually escapes to London, where he falls in with the Artful Dodger, one of a gang of young pickpockets led by the criminal Fagin. Dickens's heartrending descriptions of institutional abuses as well as the brutal reality of life on London's streets for homeless children argued strongly for social reform. Great Expectations: Dickens's penultimate novel centers on the orphan Pip and his anonymous benefactor, whom he assumes is the wealthy and eccentric recluse Miss Havisham, and whose adopted daughter, the beautiful but emotionally distant Estella, he falls hopelessly in love with. John Irving called it "the most wonderful and most perfectly worked-out plot for a novel in the English language." Bleak House: Dickens's masterful satire of the English judicial system features his only female narrator, Esther Summerson, who is raised as an orphan. Esther's true identity forms much of the mystery and drama of a complex novel involving an endless legal case-"the family curse"-and all the lives it affects. As an entertainer and a moralist, Dickens utilized his vulnerable young protagonists to great effect, creating some of the most unforgettable characters in the history of literature. This eBook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

Three classic novels of wealth, poverty, murder, and ambition from the greatest storyteller of the Victorian era. Filled with drama, emotion, and suspense, these three novels have compelled and delighted readers for well over a century. Martin Chuzzlewit: After losing his inheritance, a young man strives to make his own fortune, in this witty, wide-ranging saga. Nicholas Nickleby: A young man fights to save his mother, his sister, and a group of abused schoolboys in this novel of hardship and heroism. Our Mutual Friend: When a corpse is found in the River Thames, it will alter the course of several lives.

Three of the brilliant novelist's best-known classics in one volume, offering a wide-ranging portrait of nineteenth-century British society. A perfect introduction to the world of Charles Dickens, this volume contains three of his greatest novels. Little Dorrit: An epic tale of two families in Victorian England, one wealthy and the other living in a debtors' prison, and their shifting fortunes. David Copperfield: A sprawling masterpiece-and the inspiration for the new film starring Dev Patel-about a boy making his way to manhood in nineteenth-century England. Hard Times: A young girl from the circus world is taken in by a repressed school superintendent and his family in a dreary mill town-and brings unexpected change to their lives.

Three tales that showcase the nineteenth-century novelist's famous flair for suspense and plot twists. This volume includes three titles by Victorian England's greatest storyteller. Hunted Down: The manager of a life assurance office finds his suspicions growing after becoming acquainted with a mysterious gentleman in this rare detective story by Charles Dickens. The Mystery of Edwin Drood: In this unfinished puzzler-the basis for the Broadway musical that won five Tony Awards-a young man disappears and it may be connected to the beautiful woman he was planning to marry. The Old Curiosity Shop: Little Nell's grandfather is determined to give her a better life, but his attempts lead to trouble, in this beloved classic.