Unjustly imprisoned for 18 years in the Bastille, Dr. Alexandre Manette is reunited with his daughter, Lucie, and safely transported from France to England. It would seem that they could take up the threads of their lives in peace. As fate would have it though, the pair are summoned to the Old Bailey to testify against a young Frenchman Charles Darnay falsely accused of treason. Strangely enough, Darnay bears an uncanny resemblance...

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves,...

Bleak House opens in the twilight of foggy London, where fog grips the city most densely in the Court of Chancery. The obscure case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, in which an inheritance is gradually devoured by legal costs, the romance of Esther Summerson and the secrets of her origin, the sleuthing of Detective Inspector Bucket and the fate of Jo the crossing-sweeper, these are some of the lives Dickens invokes to portray London society, rich and poor,...

The final, unfinished novel of Charles Dickens that is in many ways his most intriguing—a gripping, haunting masterpiece that foreshadows the detective stories of Conan Doyle and the nightmarish novels of Kafka.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is a highly atmospheric tale of murder. Central to the plot is John Jasper: in public he is a man of integrity and benevolence; in private he is an opium addict....

"Cosy up for a festive reading bonanza with these heart-warming seasonal tales of Christmas by Charles Dickens. As well as the universally loved 'A Christmas Carol', the collection also includes lesser known treasures such as 'The Chimes', 'The Battle of Life', 'The Haunted Man' and 'The Cricket on the Hearth' all packaged in a beautiful hardback edition with jacket. Dickens was a tireless campaigner for social justice and his empathy with the deserving...

Widely regarded as one of the classics of comic writing in English. In the century and a half since its first appearance, the characters of Mr Pickwick, Sam Weller and the whole of the Pickwickian crew have entered the consciousness of those who love English literature in general, and the works of the author in particular. Originally serialised in monthly installments, it quickly became a huge popular success with sales reaching 40,000 by the final...

Nell Trent lives with her grandfather, the proprietor of the Old Curiosity Shop. Grandfather (who is never named in the story) has a disquieting secret a gambling addiction fed by high-interest loans from the bully Daniel Quilp. The villainous Quilp wants to get possession of the shop and Nell. In league with his lawyer Samson Brass and Samson's sister Sally, Quilp seizes Grandfather's assets. But Nell organizes an escape from the...

The Campbell Playhouse broadcast of Christmas Eve, 1939, presents the traditional seasonal classic 'A Christmas Carol', starring Lionel Barrymore in his role as Ebenezer Scrooge, a grasping, clutching old skinflint who finally learns the meaning of the holiday after being visited by the ghosts of the Christmas past.

Nicholas Nickleby confronts a large and varied cast, including Wackford Squeers, the fantastic ogre of a schoolmaster, and Vincent Crummles, the grandiloquent ham actor, on his comic and satirical adventures up and down the country. Punishing wickedness, befriending the helpless, strutting the stage, and falling in love, Nicholas shares some of his creator's energy and earnestness as he faces the pressing issues of early Victorian society.-Publisher's...