"Mistakenly assumed to have drowned in the Thames, John Harmon assumes a new identity to get acquainted with Mr. and Mrs. Boffin, who are next in line for his inheritance, and with Bella Wilfer, whom his father's will stipulates he must marry. Amid a vast gallery of scoundrels, strivers, and social climbers, Dickens' final complete novel explores the effects of greed and corruption, blending psychological insight with social commentary"--

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";...

"When Arthur Clennam returns to England after many years abroad, he takes a kindly interest in Amy Dorrit, his mother's seamstress, and in the affairs of Amy's father, William Dorrit, a man of shabby grandeur, long imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea. As Arthur soon discovers, the dark shadow of the prison stretches far beyond its walls to affect the lives of many, from the kindly Mr. Pancks, the reluctant rent-collector of Bleeding Heart Yard,...

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.

Five tales written for Christmas, 1843 to 1848, combining realism and fantasy. "A Christmas Carol in Prose" makes its ghostly appeal to Scrooge, the hard old miser, and "The Chimes" is a variation of the same motive. "The Cricket on the Hearth" is an idyll of home life, "The Battle of Life", an imaginative deliverance on resignation, "The Haunted Man", a fairy tale with the beauty of kindness for its moral.