Books by Charles Dickens

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Book SynopsisWhen John Harmon—who has been left a fortune if he will marry the girl his miserly father chose for him—is found floating dead in the Thames, he sets in motion a story overflowing with cases of deception and mistaken identity, of murder and attempted murder, of sin and redemption. The influence of the notorious Harmon inheritance ripples through a large cast of vividly drawn characters from every level of society, including Noddy Boffin, known as “the Golden Dustman”; the one-legged villain Silas Wegg; willful Bella Wilfer; saintly Lizzie Hexam; the sharp-witted doll’s dressmaker Jenny Wren; the social-climbing Veneerings; the ruthless speculator Fascination Fledgeby; and the river-scavenging corpse robbers Gaffer Hexam and Rogue Riderhood. Out of this flurry of invention Dickens creates in Our Mutual Friend a portrait of a city and a civilization that is at once indignant, compassionate, and utterly unforgettable.Charles Dickens’s last completed novel features one of his most surreal and haunting visions of  London, shadowed by towering dust heaps that supply the corrupting riches at the heart of the plot and washed by the dark river that winds its way insistently through the story.This edition reprints the original Everyman’s preface by G. K. Chesterton and features forty illustrations by Marcus Stone.

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Book SynopsisCharles Dickens had an understanding of mid-Victorian society second to none, and genius and energy massive enough to make the absurdities and terrors of that society come alive on the page. Nicholas Nickleby, with its episodes of chicanery in finance and education, and the dramatic intensity with which it tells the story of its openhearted young protagonist and its frightening villain, the magnificently rendered Ralph Nickleby, represents Dickens at his clear-eyed, indignant, and mesmerizing best.             When Nicholas Nickleby is left penniless by the death of his father, he appeals to his Uncle Ralph to help him and his mother and sister. But Ralph conceives a violent hatred of the young man, and his schemes of persecution haunt Nicholas through a series of picaresque adventures, including a job as a tutor at a horrific school for unwanted boys run by the cruel Wackford Squeers and a stint as a member of the eccentric Crummles family theater troupe. Without shying away from the grimmer aspects of the world Nicholas encounters on his path to eventual happiness, the story remains one of Dickens’s most high-spirited and exuberant. This edition reprints the original Everyman preface by G. K. Chesterton and includes thirty-nine illustrations by Phiz.

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Book SynopsisIt is said that all England mourned the heartbreaking fate of little Paul Dombey, but it is the ordeal of his loving and long-suffering sister, Florence, that carries the full emotional weight of the story. Their father’s cold obsession with the future of his business empire, the malevolent plotting of his greedy manager, Mr. Carker, and the tragic self-contempt of his proud second wife, Edith, cast a dark shadow over the life of the motherless girl. But as the world of Dombey and Son begins to fall to pieces, Florence is sustained by the warmth and brightness of humbler allies: her fiercely loyal nurse, Susan Nipper; her haplessly devoted suitor, Toots; the rough but loveable old salt Captain Cuttle and his friend Sol Gills; and her fervent admirer, the orphan Walter Gay. In its locomotive power and its transcendent moments of suspense and revelation, Dombey and Son is a superb example of Dickens’s ability to combine the qualities of a social historian, a theatrical artist, and a poet of the utmost tenderness and insight.Charles Dickens set this tale of a hard-hearted businessman, the son he pins all his hopes on, and the daughter he cruelly neglects in a country undergoing the storms of change brought by the Industrial Revolution.This edition reprints the original Everyman’s introduction by G.K. Chesterton and includes forty illustrations by Phiz.

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Book SynopsisAt the center of Martin Chuzzlewit--the novel Angus Wilson called one of the most sheerly exciting of all Dickens stories--is Martin himself, very old, very rich, very much on his guard. What he suspects (with good reason) is that every one of Iris close and distant relations, now converging in droves on the country inn where they believe he is dying, will stop at nothing to become the inheritor of his great fortune.The distinctive combination of manic comedy, bitter satire and fierce melodrama separates this novel from its author's other works. Published in 1844 after Dickens returned from America, the action moves between Britain and United States in ways which highlight the failing of both societies.

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Book SynopsisCharles Dickens’s story of selfless Little Nell and her ailing grandfather and their persecution by the magnificently malignant villain Quilp has seized the imaginations and wrung the hearts of generations of readers. Dickens’s talent was superabundant in every way: in his dramatic force and his massive productivity, in his almost surreal comic power, in his compassion and thirst for justice, and in the imaginative pressure he brought to bear on even the most incidental of his characters. The delightfully various figures in The Old Curiosity Shop range memorably from jaunty Dick Swiveller and his little half-starved Marchioness to the hard-hearted siblings Sampson and Sally Brass, jovial Mrs. Jarley, devoted Kit Nubbles, the hunchbacked Daniel Quilp, and, of course, tragic Little Nell herself. Dickens’s depiction of the fate of his main characters is famously harrowing and unfailingly suspenseful, but not the least of its charms is that it is embellished with a supporting cast of figures as grotesque and colorful as anything in the Old Curiosity Shop itself.             This edition reprints the original Everyman’s preface by G. K. Chesterton and features seventy-five illustrations by Cattermole and Phiz.

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Book SynopsisHugely 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.

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Book SynopsisThe 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. And while seeming to smile on the engagement of his nephew, Edwin Drood, he is, in fact, consumed by jealousy, driven to terrify the boy’s fiancée and to plot the murder of Edwin himself. As in many of Dickens’s greatest novels, the gulf between appearance and reality drives the action. Set in the seemingly innocuous cathedral town of Cloisterham, the story rapidly darkens with a sense of impending evil. Though The Mystery of Edwin Drood is one of its author’s darkest books, it also bustles with a vast roster of memorable–and delightfully named–minor characters: Mrs. Billikins, the landlady; the foolish Mr. Sapsea; the domineering philanthropist, Mr. Honeythunder; and the mysterious Datchery. Several attempts have been made over the years to complete the novel and solve the mystery, but even in its unfinished state it is a masterpiece.

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Book SynopsisOriginal by Charles Dickens Adapted for the stage by Charles Way Dominated by Gradgrind and Bounderby, Coketown's prosperity is built on the cotton mills where thousands of men and women slave away for long hours and little pay. Gradgrind's obsession with material progress damages his children Louisa and Tom, leading to scandal and disaster. Hard Times celebrates the importance of the human heart in an age obsessed with materialism. Circus, music, and dark comedy all go into the rich mix of this truly Dickensian theatrical tale.Trade Review“A stellar adaptation by Charles Way, moving, thoughtful and wonderfully drawn.” What's on Stage ***** “Way gives real depth to characters, replaces Dickens' sentimentality with warmth and his censoriousness with moral indignation.” The Independent ***** “Daringly restructures Dickens' plot, yet sticks to the motto of his lisping ringmaster Mr Sleary: People mutht be amuthed.” Observer “Charles Way's new adaptation uses no narration—it is so refreshing to see a Dickens adaptation that isn't like having sections of the book read to you—apart from when the actors tell us what eventually happens to their characters right at the end. It also doesn't bite off more than it can chew, using only storylines that can be told in sufficient detail to make sense and tie in with other elements of the plot.” British Theatre Guide “A re-reading of the novel showed Way’s adaptation to be faithful to the original, including the pathos and the humour.” Manchester Theatre Awards

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Book SynopsisOne Christmas Eve, after being particularly cruel to his employee, the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his dead business partner, Jacob Marley, who tells him that he will be visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, Future. Each ghost shows him things that rekindle the joy and spirit of Christmas within his heart and awaken his goodwill toward his fellow man. In typical fashion, Dickens deals with social injustice in a way that transcends the 19th century. This illustrated version of the classic holiday tale is brough to life with an illustrated Character List (like a Dramatis Personae), 134 pages of color story artwork, and fascinating support material that details the life and work of Charles Dickens as well as information on Victorian England.

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Book SynopsisTal vez porque esté inspirada en no poca medida en experiencias propias, "David Copperfield" era, como confesó el propio Charles Dickens (1812-1870), la novela favorita de entre las suyas, detalle no despreciable tratándose del escritor más grande y popular de la Inglaterra victoriana. Y es que en esta afortunada novela Dickens consiguió como en pocas mezclar las dosis justas de melodrama y comicidad, de crueldad y ternura, a través de una amplia e inolvidable galería de personajes entre los que destacan, aparte del propio David, su bondadosa y vehemente tía Betsey Trotwood, el amable señor Micawber, siempre sin blanca, y el pérfido e inescrupuloso Uriah Heep. Otras obras de Dickens en Alianza Editorial: "Tiempos difíciles", "Grandes esperanzas", "Oliver Twist", "La tienda de antigüedades", "Historia de dos ciudades", "Canción de Navidad" y "El guardavía y otros cuentos de miedo".Traducción de Miguel Ángel Pérez Pérez

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Book SynopsisEncuadernación: RústicaColección: Antaviana Clàsssics CatalansOliver Twist és una novella que no pot faltar en cap biblioteca. L?obra explica les aventures del seu protagonista per sobreviure en una societat dura i cruel amb els més febles. Ambientada a Londres i la seva rodalia, Dickens retrata alguns ambients sòrdids de l?època, en els quals els infants eren explotats per treballar o per cometre delictes. La lluita del dèbil contra el fort i del bé contra el mal són temes presents al llarg de tota la novella, que ens mostra totes les peripècies del jove Oliver fins que és capaç de reeixir i trobar el seu camí.

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Book SynopsisA ghost turns up at Ebenezer Scrooge''s home one Christmas Eve. It is Jacob Marley, his business partner, who has been dead for seven years. He is dragging heavy chains, and is obviously full of great sorrow and unbearable pain. While Scrooge is still trying to decide whether the apparition is real or a piece of his imagination, Marley''s ghost tells him something that might change his life forever: ''You will be haunted by three spirits. Without their visits, you cannot hope to avoid the path I tread. ''Expect the first tomorrow when the bell tolls one. ''Expect the second on the next night at the same hour. ''The third upon the next night when the last stroke of twelve has stopped vibrating.'' One of the most popular Christmas stories of all time, Dickens''s novel remains a great favorite all over the world. A poignant and thought-provoking story, it''s a delight to read again and again.

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