Best Selling Books by Charles Dickens

Doctor Manette, a prominent French Doctor, must flee Paris in the midst of the chaos that has ensued in what became known as the Reign of Terror. Fearing further persecution from his 18 maddening years of imprisonment in the Bastille of Paris, Doctor Manette hurriedly leaves France to be with the daughter he’s never met. Opening with the famous lines, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...” Charles Dickens’, A Tale of Two Cities is perhaps one of the most celebrated and popular novels of its time. Weaving together the narratives of vastly different but equally profound characters against the backdrop of political revolution and strife, A Tale of Two Cities is a tale of human perseverance. Throughout the novel, Charles Dickens is able to portray the hardships of each social class during the trying times of the French Revolution in a way that is both profoundly elegant and heartbreaking at the same time. Becoming known as the perhaps the epitome of Dickensian writing and style, A Tale of Two Cities measures the boundaries of human will in the fight for what is right during a time when that just might cost your life.

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘A Christmas Carol’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Charles Dickens’. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Dickens includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily. eBook features: * The complete unabridged text of ‘A Christmas Carol’ * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Dickens’s works * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook * Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘Great Expectations’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Charles Dickens’. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Dickens includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily. eBook features: * The complete unabridged text of ‘Great Expectations’ * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Dickens’s works * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook * Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

Hugely admired by Tolstoy, David Copperfield is the novel that draws most closely from Charles Dickens''s own life. Its eponymous hero, orphaned as a boy, grows up to discover love and happiness, heartbreak and sorrow amid a cast of eccentrics, innocents, and villains. Praising Dickens''s power of invention, Somerset Maugham wrote: "There were never such people as the Micawbers, Peggotty and Barkis, Traddles, Betsey Trotwood and Mr. Dick, Uriah Heep and his mother. They are fantastic inventions of Dickens''s exultant imagination...you can never quite forget them." This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition includes a new Introduction by Pulitzer Prize finalist David Gates, in addition to new explanatory notes.

It is regarded as one of his greatest and most sophisticated novels, and is one of his most enduringly popular, having been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times. Great Expectations is written in a semi-autobiographical style, and is the story of the orphan Pip, writing his life from his early days of childhood until adulthood. The story can also be considered semi-autobiographical of Dickens, like much of his work, drawing on his experiences of life and people.

first serialized in All the Year Round from December 1860 to August 1861. The action of the story takes place from Christmas Eve, 1812, when the protagonist is about seven years old, to the winter of 1840 Charles John Huffam Dickens 7 February 1812 - 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world''s best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity. Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors'' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children''s rights, education, and other social reforms.

★★★About★★★ Our Mutual Friend, written in the years 1864-65, is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, quoting from the character Bella Wilfer in the book, "money, money, money, and what money can make of life."[1] Most reviewers in the 1860s continued to praise Dickens'' skill as a writer in general, though not reviewing this novel in detail. Some found the plot too complex, and not well laid out.[2] The Times of London found the first few chapters did not draw the reader into the characters. However, in the 20th century reviewers have found much to approve in the later novels of Dickens, including Our Mutual Friend.[3] In the late 20th and early 21st century, some reviewers suggested that Dickens was experimenting with structure, [4][5] and that the characters considered somewhat flat and not recognized by the contemporary reviewers[6] were true representations of the Victorian working class and key to understanding the structure of the society depicted by Dickens in this novel.

One of the masterpieces of the written world. A must-read. Illustrated with doodles Complete and unabridged One of the most celebrated and influential novels of the past two centuries tells the vivid and unforgettable coming-of-age story of the orphan Pip In the marsh country of Victorian England, young Pip lives with his sister and her husband, the kindly blacksmith Joe, eking out a hardscrabble life. Pip''s one true aspiration is to apprentice for Joe and become a blacksmith himself, a dream that sustains him and gives him hope. But though he doesn''t know it, Pip''s fates are about to turn. Alone in a graveyard one night, he encounters a grizzled and mud-smeared escaped convict. Dragging a heavy shackle from an injured leg, the man demands that Pip steal him food and help him remove the clanging iron. Cowed, Pip accommodates his commands without resistance. It isn''t until years later, after Pip has forged a tender relationship with the eccentric Mrs. Havisham, fallen into unexpected prosperity in London, and found himself gripped by love for the charming-yet-fickle Estella, that the true consequences of that night in the graveyard finally come to light. Celebrated for its vibrant characters, engrossing plot, and universal themes of ambition and hope, Great Expectations stands as a pillar of Victorian literature and a preeminent entry in the Dickensian oeuvre.

In Charles Dickens''s ''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy''s Progress. Illustrated'', the captivating tale of a young orphan boy navigating the harsh realities of Victorian society is told with a unique blend of social commentary and dark humor. The novel is characterized by its intricate plot, vivid characters, and rich descriptions of London''s slums, highlighting the disparities between social classes. Dickens''s use of irony and satire adds depth to the story, making it a timeless classic in English literature. The illustrations throughout the book provide a visual representation of the characters and settings, enhancing the reader''s experience. Dickens''s eloquent writing style and attention to detail make ''Oliver Twist'' a must-read for those interested in 19th-century British novels.

The novel follows the journey of the titular character, Oliver Twist. Oliver, an orphan since birth, spends much of his childhood at a "child farm" (orphanage) with too many children and too little food. The farm is located roughly 70 miles outside London. One night, after being served his portion of gruel, Oliver asks for a second helping. This is unacceptable, and Oliver is sent to work as an apprentice to an undertaker. Eventually, after suffering repeated mistreatment, Oliver runs away and heads for London. He soon finds himself in the presence of the Artful Dodger, who tells him to stay at the house of an "old gentleman" (named Fagin) with a number of other boys. Oliver learns that these boys are trained pickpockets. On an outing, Oliver witnesses the boys take a handkerchief from Mr. Brownlow, an elderly man, which prompts Oliver to run away in fear and confusion. The elderly man mistakes Oliver''s behaviour for guilt and has him arrested. However, after learning more about Oliver, Mr. Brownlow realizes his mistake and offers to take care of him at his home.

After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille, the ageing Doctor Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England. There the lives of two very different men, Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer, become enmeshed through their love for Lucie Manette. From the tranquil roads of London, they are drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained streets of Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror, and they soon fall under the lethal shadow of La Guillotine. This edition uses the text as it appeared in its serial publication in 1859 to convey the full scope of Dickens''s vision, and includes the original illustrations by H. K. Browne (''Phiz''). Richard Maxwell''s introduction discusses the intricate interweaving of epic drama with personal tragedy.

Hard Times - For These Times (commonly known as Hard Times) is the tenth novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1854.The book surveys English society and satirises the social and economic conditions of the era.Hard Times is unusual in several ways. It is by far the shortest of Dickens'' novels, barely a quarter of the length of those written immediately before and after it.Also, unlike all but one of his other novels, Hard Times has neither a preface nor illustrations. Moreover, it is his only novel not to have scenes set in London. Instead the story is set in the fictitious Victorian industrial Coke town, a generic Northern English mill-town, in some ways similar to Manchester, though smaller. Coke town may be partially based on 19th-century Preston.

Kent, England, late 19th century. The orphan Pip lives a humble existence with his sister and brother-in-law, whom he helps in his blacksmith shop. When the wealthy Miss Havisham calls on Pip to be her and her beautiful daughter''s companion, the young man will realize the hardships of his social class and will increasingly desire to move up the ranks of the social ladder. Pip will then receive a visit from a London lawyer, who will inform him that an anonymous benefactor wants to turn him into a gentleman. However, Pip will discover that the value of friendship and morals cannot be bought with money.The human heart is an instrument with many strings; the perfect connoisseur of men knows how to make them all vibrate, like a good musician. " Charles dickens

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A reprinting of the 1843 first edition, complete with the original illustrations, is supplemented by over eighty related sketches and annotations on and analyses of the text and historical notes on the writing of "The Christmas Carol."

A Christmas Carol - a story by Charles Dickens referring to Christmas Eve. The book was first published on December 19, 1843. Translated many times and published as A Christmas Carol or, in keeping with the original title, as a Christmas Carol in Prose.

"My satire is against those who see figures and averages, and nothing else," proclaimed Charles Dickens in explaining the theme of this classic novel. Published in 1854, the story concerns one Thomas Gradgrind, a "fanatic of the demonstrable fact," who raises his children, Tom and Louisa, in a stifling and arid atmosphere of grim practicality.Without a moral compass to guide them, the children sink into lives of desperation and despair, played out against the grim background of Coketown, a wretched community shadowed by an industrial behemoth. Louisa falls into a loveless marriage with Josiah Bouderby, a vulgar banker, while the unscrupulous Tom, totally lacking in principle, becomes a thief who frames an innocent man for his crime. Witnessing the degradation and downfall of his children, Gradgrind realizes that his own misguided principles have ruined their lives.Considered Dickens'' harshest indictment of mid-19th-century industrial practices and their dehumanizing effects, this novel offers a fascinating tapestry of Victorian life, filled with the richness of detail, brilliant characterization, and passionate social concern that typify the novelist''s finest creations.Of Dickens'' work, the eminent Victorian critic John Ruskin had this to say: "He is entirely right in his main drift and purpose in every book he has written; and all of them, but especially Hard Times, should be studied with close and earnest care by persons interested in social questions."