Charles Dickens

"Introduces an array of characters, from the sinister to the comic, and moves to a haunting climax in an atmospheric murder mystery that features the seemingly benevolent John Jasper, a secret opium addict, and his relationship with his newly engaged nephew, Edwin Drood." --

A miser learns the true meaning of Christmas when three ghostly visitors review his past and foretell his future. Illustrated notes throughout the text explain the historical background of the story.

"At first glance, the work is modelled on 18th-century 'personal histories' that were very popular, like Henry Fielding's Joseph Andrews or Tom Jones, but David Copperfield is a more carefully structured work. It begins, like other novels by Dickens, with a bleak picture of childhood in Victorian England, followed by young Copperfield's slow social ascent, as he painfully provides for his aunt, while continuing his studies." --

Set amid the teeming bustle of Victorian England, Dombey and Son is Dickens's story of a powerful man whose coldhearted neglect of his family causes his professional and personal downfall. This Modern Library Paperback Classic reprints the 1867 "Charles Dickens" edition and includes newly commissioned endnotes and a reading group guide.

The sensational bestselling story of Little Nell, the beautiful child thrown into a shadowy, terrifying world, seems to belong less to the history of the Victorian novel than to folklore, fairy tale, or myth. The sorrows of Nell and her grandfather are offset by Dickens's creation of a dazzling contemporary world inhabited by some of his most brilliantly drawn characters-the eloquent ne'er-do-well Dick Swiveller; the hungry maid known as the "Marchioness";...

After John Harmon is murdered on his way to marry Bella Wilfer and receive a large inheritance, his father's assistant, Nicodemus Boffin, becomes the new heir and adopts Bella, who evokes an uncommon interest from Boffin's assistant.

With their estate entangled in an interminable legal case, the young wards of the court Richard Carstone and Ada Clare are taken into the benevolent care of the kindly John Jarndyce. Ada's companion, the gentle and good-hearted Esther Summerson, is devoted to the old man and, although she loves another, becomes betrothed to him. But behind Esther's supposed orphan past lies a dark secret that leads tragically to deceit, blackmail and murder. And as...

Martin Chuzzlewit's wealthy grandfather forces him to emigrate to America after the selfish Martin falls in love with the wrong girl; upon his return, Martin seems to prove his worth.

The story centres on the life and adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, a young man who must support his mother and sister after his father dies.

A bone-chilling trio of supernatural tales by fiction master Charles Dickens In "The Haunted House," a new homeowner discovers he is sharing his bed with the skeleton of the house's former master. In "The Trial for Murder," a revengeful ghost haunts a juror serving at his killer's trial. In "The Signal-Man," an apparition warns a man of impending disaster. These strange and frightening occurrences unfold in grim and gripping detail in this collection...