Search results for ""Author Charles Dickens.""

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…' Set before and during the French Revolution in the cities of Paris and London, A Tale of Two Cities tells the story of Dr Manette's release from imprisonment in the Bastille and his reunion with daughter, Lucie. A French aristocrat Darnay and English lawyer Carton compete in their love for Lucie and the ensuing tale plays out against the menacing backdrop of the French Revolution and the shadow of the guillotine.

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Dicken's third novel, published in 1839, is a brilliant and vivid melodrama of honest youth triumphing over vice and injustice. Bursting with energy and populated by a whole world of inimitable and memorable characters - including especially the theatrical troupe with whom Nicholas performs - the book is both a griping story and a series of magnificent scenes. It is also indignant protest against cruelty and oppression, most memorably encapsulated in Dickens's powerful portrayal of Mr Squeers and his wicked boarding school - a passage which was to be instrumental in helping to reform the Victorian education system. The novel has been adapted for television stage and screen.

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Dickens' celebrated novel of innocence betrayed and then triumphant. It recreates the London underworld populated by such characters as Fagin, Bill Sikes, Nancy and the Artful Dodger, who are contrasted with the friends and family of the orphaned Oliver.

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A rich and varied array of stories and vignettes, The Pickwick Papers is based around the investigations of the Corresponding Society of the Pickwick Club, consisting of its founder Mr Samuel Pickwick and Messrs Tracy Tupman, Augustus Snodgrass and Nathaniel Winkle, who travel around the country and then report back to the club concerning their extraordinary adventures and experiences. Dickens’s first novel, The Pickwick Papers was an immediate success and caught the public imagination in a manner that few debuts have ever matched. Replete with colourful characters, fantastical anecdotes and a farcical plot, it catapulted its twenty-four-year-old author to literary stardom, and is widely considered to be one of the great comic masterpieces of nineteenth-century literature.

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After a traumatic early childhood spent living in poverty in a Preston cellar, the suddenly orphaned George Silverman grows up convinced that he is at fault for all the misfortunes in his life. Hoodwinked by hypocritical clergymen and exploited by his employer, he finds himself forsaking love and facing professional ruin. One of Dickens’s very last writings, ‘George Silverman’s Explanation’ is a dark and psychologically insightful investigation of failure and guilt. This volume also includes two other lesser-known pieces of fiction by Dickens: the novella for children ‘Holiday Romance’ and the detective story ‘Hunted Down’.

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Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.Visit the Penguin Readers websiteExclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.David Copperfield lives happily with his mother and his nurse, Peggotty. Then his mother marries Mr Murdstone, and he and his sister come to live with them. Suddenly everything changes . .

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Dominoes is a full-colour, interactive readers series that offers students a fun reading experience while building their language skills. With integrated activities and on-page glossaries the new edition of the series makes reading motivating for learners. Each reader is carefully graded to ensure each student reads from the right level from the very beginning.

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A graphic deluxe edition to mark the 150th anniversary of Dickens's most well-loved novel. A terrifying encounter with an escaped convict in a graveyard on the wild Kent marshes; a summons to meet the bitter, decaying Miss Havisham and her beautiful, cold-hearted ward Estella; the sudden generosity of a mysterious benefactor-these form a series of events that change the orphan Pip's life forever, as he eagerly abandons his humble origins to begin a new life as a gentleman. Dickens's haunting novel depicts Pip's education and development through adversity as he discovers the true nature of his great expectations. Published nine years before Dickens's death, it remains one of his most celebrated works.

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Charles Dickens' personal favourite, David Copperfield is full of tragedy and comedy in equal measure and remains one of the most enduring and popular of Dickens' novels. Abridged for Puffin Classics.Based in part on the author's own life, David Copperfield is the epic story of a young man's journey of self-discovery - from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to his vocation as a successful novelist. Among the memorable cast of characters he encounters along the way are his brutal stepfather, Mr Murdstone; bubbly Nurse Peggotty; his brilliant, but unworthy schoolmate Steerforth, his eccentric aunt, Betsy Trotwood, the scheming clerk Uriah Heep, the enchanting Dora and the magnificent Mr Macawber - a character much like Dickens' own father. Also in Puffin Classics:Great Expectations [abridged]A Tale of Two Cities [abridged]A Christmas Carol [unabridged]Oliver Twist [unabridged]

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Now a major film directed by Armando Iannucci, starring Dev Patel, Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie, Peter Capaldi and Ben WhishawDickens's epic, exuberant novel is one of the greatest coming-of-age stories in literature. It chronicles David Copperfield's extraordinary journey through life, as he encounters villains, saviours, eccentrics and grotesques, including the wicked Mr Murdstone, stout-hearted Peggotty, formidable Betsey Trotwood, impecunious Micawber and odious Uriah Heep.Dickens's great Bildungsroman (based, in part, on his own boyhood, and which he described as a 'favourite child') is a work filled with life, both comic and tragic.

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'The novel has everything: absorbing melodrama, with a supporting cast of heroes, villains and eccentrics' The TimesWhen Nicholas's father dies he, his mother and sister are left penniless. To earn his keep, Nicholas becomes a tutor at Dotheboys Hall but soon discovers that the headmaster, Wackford Squeers, is a one-eyed tyrant who insists on a harsh regime. Nicholas embarks on an adventure that takes him from loathsome boarding schools to the London stage. Dickens confronts issues of neglect and cruelty in this blackly comic masterpiece.

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Read the ultimate Christmas story of hope and redemption behind the recent BBC TV adaptationEbenezer Scrooge despises Christmas. He has no time for festivities or goodwill toward his fellow men and is only interested in money. Then, on the night of Christmas Eve, his life is changed by a series of ghostly visitations that show him some bitter truths about his choices. Discover Dickens's most influential book and one of the world’s favourite Christmas reads.INCLUDES 'THE CHIMES' AND 'THE HAUNTED MAN'

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‘The image of little Oliver Twist victimised by poverty, almost seduced by the specious excitement of crime, and then offered the possibility of a lucrative career in authorship is always compelling’ GuardianOliver is an orphan living on the dangerous London streets with no one but himself to rely on. Fleeing from poverty and hardship, he falls in with a criminal street gang who will not let him go, however hard he tries to escape. In Oliver Twist, Dickens graphically conjures up the capital's underworld, full of prostitutes, thieves and lost and homeless children, and gives a voice to the disadvantaged and abused.

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Discover this selection of the best of Dickens' Christmas stories and writings in one beautiful gift edition.The ultimate Christmas present.It is said that Charles Dickens invented Christmas, and within these pages you'll certainly find all the elements of a quintessential traditional Christmas brought to vivid life: snowy rooftops, gleaming shop windows, steaming bowls of punch, plum puddings like speckled cannon balls, sage and onion stuffing, miracles, magic, charity and goodwill. This beautifully produced Vintage Classics edition gathers together not only Dickens' Christmas Books ('A Christmas Carol', 'The Chimes', 'The Battle of Life', 'The Cricket on the Hearth' and 'The Haunted Man') but also stories that Dickens wrote for the special seasonal editions of his periodicals All the Year Round and Household Words, and a festive tale from The Pickwick Papers. A must-have for Christmas, this edition should be as necessary to your festivities as holly, mistletoe and silver bells.

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Carefully controlled information, structure and vocabulary Some difficult words and phrases are explained with pictures The book has around 600 basic words for Beginner-level students Free resources including worksheets, tests and author data sheets

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'What was merry Christmas to Scrooge? Out upon merry Christmas! What good had it ever done to him?' Ebenezer Scrooge is a bad-tempered skinflint who hates Christmas and all it stands for, but a ghostly visitor foretells three apparitions who will thaw Scrooge's frozen heart. A Christmas Carol has gripped the public imagination since it was first published in 1843, and it is now as much a part of Christmas as mistletoe or plum pudding. This edition reprints the story alongside Dickens's four other Christmas Books: The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, and The Haunted Man. All five stories show Dickens at his unpredictable best, jumbling together comedy and melodrama, genial romance and urgent social satire, in pursuit of his aim 'to awaken some loving and forbearing thoughts, never out of season in a Christian land'.

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Pictures from Italy is one of Charles Dickens' earlier works, a fantastic and whimsical foray into the twin worlds of travel and the imagination. Written in the 1840s when he took a respite from the writing of novels and traveled with his family to the continent, it is a travelogue offering a rare glimpse into the life of the great author. In this illustrated edition, Italian artist Livia Signorini takes inspiration from Dickens' words and plays with his sense of place, memory, and politics. The result is a brilliant contemporary dialogue with his work - a reading of history, time and change - which renews our sense of his enduring vision. Pictures from Italy is a tribute to the world of the great master in the 200th year of his birth.

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A spine-chilling play by Hugh Janes, based on several original ghost stories by Charles Dickens. In an ancient, crumbling mansion, sheltering from the howling winds that tear across the surrounding desolate moorland, two men stumble across a dark and terrifying secret that will change both of their lives. When a young book dealer, David Filde, is employed by a former associate of his uncle to catalogue a private library, he finds an incredible array of rare and antiquated books. But as a series of strange and unexplained events conspires to keep Filde from his work, he realises that if he is to convince his sceptical employer that the mysterious phenomena he is experiencing are real, they must journey together to the very edge of terror, and beyond... Hugh Janes' play The Haunting was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, in 2010. The play offers rich material for amateur theatre companies or student groups who want to introduce their audiences to another side of Dickens' work - and have them jump out of their seats at the same time.

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Little treasures, the FLAME TREE COLLECTABLE CLASSICS are chosen to create a delightful and timeless home library. Each stunning, gift edition features deluxe cover treatments, ribbon markers, luxury endpapers and gilded edges. The unabridged text is accompanied by a Glossary of Victorian and Literary terms produced for the modern reader. David Copperfield is the story of a hard life endured is ultimately rewarded because of perseverance, kindness and common sense. Copperfield loses his father as a child, his mother then marries Murdstone, a cruel man who oppresses her and sends the boy away from home to a hostel. His mother dies, then Copperfield is sent to a factory, before running away to his Aunt Betsey Trotwood who protects him and whose relationship he maintains throughout his life. Further suffering follows though when Copperfield's first wife dies in childbirth, but by the end of the novel he too marries once more, finally to live towards a happy end, with Agnes and their three children. Throughout, Dickens highlights the systemic abuse of the weak, the ill, and, often, the female, eager to show that society is at fault for poverty, not the individual, so the poor should be helped, not victimised.

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This unsparing tale of a young Victorian orphan is now available in an unabridged hardcover edition that’s a perfect gift for today’s young readers. ​Oliver Twist, a poor orphan, escapes the miserable workhouse, only to fall into the clutches of a band of pickpockets led by the odious Fagin. Can he remain the pure and good-hearted boy that he is, or will he fall into a life of crime? This gritty portrayal of Victorian London is now available in a collectible hardcover edition, complete with black-and-white interior illustrations that bring the story to life.

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An evocative picture book retelling the Charles Dickens classic for younger children. Ebenezer Scrooge is a mean-spirited old man who hates everything - even Christmas! But when three spirits visit him one Christmas Eve, Scrooge is taken on a journey into the past, present and future that will change him forever. The simple and engaging text is accompanied by atmospheric illustrations by Alan Marks. Beautifully presented, this is an ideal gift for younger children.

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"The most consistent of all series in terms of language control, length, and quality of story." David R. Hill, Director of the Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading.

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"The most consistent of all series in terms of language control, length, and quality of story." David R. Hill, Director of the Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading.

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"The most consistent of all series in terms of language control, length, and quality of story." David R. Hill, Director of the Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading.

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A Christmas Carol – The Complete Text contains the full text of the novel, with helpful annotations to explain characters, themes, context and more! Plus, we've included Knowledge Organiser pages, where all the key info is laid out in one handy place. And there are discussion questions to help students dig deeper into the novel. The CGP range for English Literature also includes a matching Text Guide (9781782943099), which contains all the notes and practice you need to really master A Christmas Carol!

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Tom Baker reads Charles Dickens' timeless seasonal story. Charles Dickens' story of solitary miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who is taught the true meaning of Christmas by the three ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, has become one of the timeless classics of English literature. First published in 1843, it introduces us not only to Scrooge himself, but also to the memorable characters of underpaid desk clerk Bob Cratchit and his poor family, the poorest amongst whom is the ailing and crippled Tiny Tim. In this captivating recording, Tom Baker delivers a tour-de-force performance as he narrates the story. The listener joins Scrooge on Christmas Eve, witnesses the visitation of Marley's ghost, and is given a glimpse of the many homes and lives which Scrooge has touched in his wretched life to date. With atmospheric sound design, this ultimately uplifting tale is a festive delight to be treasured and listened to again and again. Duration: 3 hours approx

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'This is no dusty relic, but instead something sparkling and modern' Armando IannucciIn a wildly eventful life, David Copperfield moves from the cruelty of his stepfather's care to the heights of success as a beloved and respected novelist. On his journey through Victorian society, he endures bitter treatment as a labourer, wins the approval of his formidable aunt, finds himself an education - and a career, falls in love, and expands his circle of acquaintance to include true, false and marvellously eccentric friends. Dickens's own favourite among his novels, The Personal History of David Copperfield is a classic of comedy and tragedy that never ceases to surprise and delight.

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Charles Dickens' classic story of a young boy who seeks his fortune on the streets of London.After Oliver Twist asks nasty Mr Bumble for more food, he has to flee the workhouse for the streets of London. Here he meets the Artful Dodger, who leads him to Fagin and his gang of pickpockets. When a thieving mission goes wrong, Oliver narrowly avoids prison and finds himself in the care of kind Mr Brownlow. But Fagin and the brutal Bill Sikes go in search of the young orphan, determined to drag him back . . .With an inspirational and light-hearted introduction by Garth Nix.

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Our hero 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. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

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Following his father's death John Harmon returns to London to claim his inheritance, but he finds he is eligible only if he marries Bella Wilfur. To observe her character he assumes another identity and secures work with his father's foreman, Mr Boffin, who is also Bella's guardian. Disguise and concealment play an important role in the novel and individual identity is examined within the wider setting of London life: in the 1860s the city was aflame with spiralling financial speculation while thousands of homeless scratched a living from the detritus of the more fortunate-indeed John Harmon's father has amassed his wealth by recycling waste. This edition includes extensive explanatory notes and significant manuscript variants. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

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In 1836 the 23-year-old Dickens was invited by his publishers to write `a monthly something' illustrated by sporting plates. Thus the Pickwick Club was born: its supposed `papers' soom outgrew their origins and became a brilliantly comic novel, still among Dicken's most popular works. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

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Dominoes is a full-colour, interactive readers series that offers students a fun reading experience while building their language skills. With integrated activities and on-page glossaries the new edition of the series makes reading motivating for learners. Each reader is carefully graded to ensure each student reads from the right level from the very beginning.

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Introduced by bestselling author Roddy Doyle.Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton are alike in appearance, different in character and in love with the same woman. In the midst of the French Revolution, Darnay, who has fled to London to escape the cruelty of the French nobility, must return to Paris to rescue his servant from death. But he endangers his own life and is captured. Carton may be able to help, but will his resemblance be enough to save Darnay's life?Specially abridged for Puffin Classics.Also abridged for Puffin Classics David CopperfieldGreat Expectations

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'One of Dickens's most neglected, but most rewarding, novels' Peter AckroydSet against the backdrop of the Gordon Riots of 1780, Barnaby Rudge is a story of mystery and suspense which begins with an unsolved double murder and goes on to involve conspiracy, blackmail, abduction and retribution. Through the course of the novel fathers and sons become opposed, apprentices plot against their masters and anti-Catholic mobs rampage through the streets. With its dramatic descriptions of public violence and private horror, its strange secrets and ghostly doublings, Barnaby Rudge is a powerful, disturbing blend of historical realism and Gothic melodrama.Edited with an Introduction and Notes by John Bowen

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'One of my life's greatest tragedies is to have already read Pickwick Papers - I can't go back and read it for the first time' Fernando PessoaFew first novels have created as much popular excitement as The Pickwick Papers - a comic masterpiece that catapulted its twenty-four-year-old author to immediate fame. Readers were captivated by the adventures of the poet Snodgrass, the sportsman Winkle and, above all, by that quintessentially English Quixote, Mr Pickwick, and his cockney Sancho Panza, Sam Weller. From the hallowed turf of Dingley Dell Cricket Club to the unholy fracas of the Eatanswill election, characters and incidents sprang to life from Dickens's pen, to form an enduringly popular work of ebullient humour and literary invention. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Mark Wormald

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'There's no writing against such power as this - one has no chance' William Makepeace ThackerayA compelling depiction of a man imprisoned by his own pride, Dombey and Son explores the devastating effects of emotional deprivation on a dysfunctional family. Paul Dombey runs his household as he runs his business: coldly, calculatingly and commercially. The only person he cares for is his little son, while his motherless daughter Florence is merely a 'base coin that couldn't be invested'. As Dombey's callousness extends to others, including his defiant second wife Edith, he sows the seeds of his own destruction.Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Andrew Sanders

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When an essay is due and dreaded exams loom, here's the lit-crit help students need to succeed! SparkNotes Literature Guides make studying smarter, better, and faster. They provide chapter-by-chapter analysis, explanations of key themes, motifs, and symbols, a review quiz and essay topics. Lively and accessible, SparkNotes is perfect for late-night studying and paper writing.

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This volume brings together the published short stories of Charles Dickens published between Christmases 1843 and 1848: Christmas Song, The Bells, The Home Cricket, The Battle of Life and The Bewitched , all of them illustrated by the original illustrators and probably the most brilliant of their time. The illustrations have been restored and colored for this deluxe edition ideal for lovers of Dickens literature and certainly an ideal Christmas gift.

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