Narrated in the first person, Great Expectations tells the story of Philip Pirrip (known as Pip) from his disadvantaged start as an orphan in the Kent marshes to the improvement in his position following an anonymous allowance. Pip moves to London where, only after many trials, does he learn humility and the value of loyalty. Key Dickens characters abound the convict Magwitch, the eccentric Miss Havisham and the pompous Pumblechook. Anton Less...
Here is a perfect coupling for those Christmas evenings of Christmas journeys. The greatest Christmas story is Dickens' A Christmas Carol which has never lost its charm as Scrooge learns compassion and love. The Christmas Collection is a varied, well chosen selection of words, stories, essays, poems and reflections made by writer Christina Hardyment.
When the orphaned Pip comes into a mysterious fortune, he's able to realize his dream of becoming a gentleman. Newly rich, and with the manners to prove it, he snubs his old friends and hopes to marry the haughty Estella. One stormy night Pip learns the truth about his benefactor, and while his physical struggles have ended, Pip's moral challenges are just beginning. Comical yet deeply moving, "Great Expectations" features some of Dickens's mo...
Bah Humbug!" That's how Ebeneezer Scrooge feels about Christmas--until the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future decide to show the crotchety old miser the error of his ways. Together they travel through time, revisiting all the people who have played an important role in Scrooge's life. And as their journey concludes, Scrooge is reminded of what it means to have love in his heart, and what the true spirit of Christmas is all about. A ...
It was the best of times and the worst of times'. In one of the most famous openings of any novel, Dickens masterfully presents the turmoil of the French Revolution which is the backdrop for a novel of love, patience, hope and self-sacrifice. It is read by Anton Lesser whose award-winning Dickens recordings in their abridged form has now resulted in the opportunity to read the full unabridged text. His singular characterisations led to him bei...
William Dorrit has been a resident of the Marshalsea debtors prison for so many years that he has gained the nickname The Father of the Marshalsea. However, his suffering is eased by his close bond with youngest daughter Amy, or Little Dorrit. The dashing Arthur Clennam, returning to London after many years in China, enters their lives and the Dorrits fortunes begin to rise and fall. A biting satirical work on the shortcomings of 19th -century...
In Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens created one of his most penetrating satires on the weaknesses of government in the Victorian era. He chose Marshalsea debtors prison as the setting, where his own father had been imprisoned. The story revolves around a complex mystery involving conspiracy, debt and a disputed will that results in unexpected consequences for the main characters.
Full of the stark contrasts of youth and old age, beauty and deformity, goodness and malevolence, this Dickens classic resembles a fairy story. But, can goodness prevail in this realistic setting of Victorian England? Published first in serial form, The Old Curiosity Shop was an instant sensation, gripping a rapt Victorian public who were desperate to learn the fate of the beloved Little Nell. Dickens heart-warming classic is fully realized he...
A highly dramatic setting switches between London and Paris as the French Revolution looms and finally breaks out, in Dickens' well-known novel, first published in 1859.
In Dickens' most openly political novel, discover the terrible human consequences of a ruthless, materialistic philosophy in the lives of the Gradgrind family, brought up to believe that only "Facts! Facts! Facts!" have any meaning.