<div>The premier novel of the French Revolution, by England&rsquo;s greatest author Set against the bloodthirsty backdrop of revolutionary France, this monumental saga&mdash;one of the most famous works in all of literature&mdash;is at its heart the story of a beautiful woman and the two men who compete for her love: Charles Darnay, a French aristocrat who renounces his heritage, yet stands accused of treason in the rush to the guillotine, and Sydney Carton, a disillusioned English barrister who finds his salvation in the ultimate act of sacrifice. Full of rich historical details and populated by a sprawling cast of characters, Charles Dickens&rsquo;s masterwork is epic in every sense of the word. Yet its finest achievement may be the intimate moments shared by three people who have the foresight and the courage to see beyond the chaos that surrounds them. A novel whose contradictions are laid bare from the very start&mdash;&ldquo;It was the best of times, it was the worst of times&rdquo;&mdash;A Tale of Two Cities is the stuff of life, and great art. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.</div>

A Tale of Two Cities

<div>One of the most celebrated and influential novels of the past two centuries tells the vivid and unforgettable coming-of-age story of the orphan Pip In the marsh country of Victorian England, young Pip lives with his sister and her husband, the kindly blacksmith Joe, eking out a hardscrabble life. Pip&rsquo;s one true aspiration is to apprentice for Joe and become a blacksmith himself, a dream that sustains him and gives him hope. But though he doesn&rsquo;t know it, Pip&rsquo;s fates are about to turn. Alone in a graveyard one night, he encounters a grizzled and mud-smeared escaped convict. Dragging a heavy shackle from an injured leg, the man demands that Pip steal him food and help him remove the clanging iron. Cowed, Pip accommodates his commands without resistance. It isn&rsquo;t until years later, after Pip has forged a tender relationship with the eccentric Mrs. Havisham, fallen into unexpected prosperity in London, and found himself gripped by love for the charming-yet-fickle Estella, that the true consequences of that night in the graveyard finally come to light. Celebrated for its vibrant characters, engrossing plot, and universal themes of ambition and hope, Great Expectations stands as a pillar of Victorian literature and a preeminent entry in the Dickensian oeuvre. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.</div>

Great Expectations

<div>Charles Dickens&rsquo;s cutting social novel of corruption, cruelty, and a brave orphan boy Brought into the world by a drunken nurse and an inept surgeon, innocent young Oliver Twist couldn&rsquo;t have known the mysterious circumstances surrounding his birth&mdash;that his mother had been discovered wandering the streets, near bursting with child, and had died ignominiously on the cold bed of a workhouse, having just pushed the little boy from her womb and into the uncertain future shared by thousands of other orphans throughout England. This classic novel by Charles Dickens was among the first to expose the pitiless conditions of England&rsquo;s orphanages, and an early example of the social novel&mdash;fiction meant to effect change by shining a dramatized light on a public ill. Readers were almost as shocked by the novel&rsquo;s blade-edged sarcasm as they were scandalized by its stark depictions of ruinous orphanages and corrupt clergy. Adapted into countless films, plays, stories, and television shows, Charles Dickens&rsquo;s Oliver Twist remains one of the most beloved works of literature ever penned. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices. </div>

Oliver Twist

<div>Charles Dickens&rsquo;s moral tale of utilitarian values run amok The industrial burg of Coketown is dominated by the philosophy of utilitarianism. The mill is the center of commerce. Students in the school are instructed to recite rote facts and figures while repressing any creative instincts. Thomas Gradgrind, the school superintendent, is a strict devotee of practicality and has raised his children, Tom and Louisa, according to this philosophy. It is only Sissy Jupe, a circus girl taken in by the Gradgrinds, who possesses the vision and wonderment to see past the rigid boundaries of cold, hard facts. A paean to the human spirit, Hard Times is among Dickens&rsquo;s most cutting works of social commentary. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices. </div>

Hard Times

<div>Charles Dickens&rsquo;s sentimental classic about little Nell and her grandfather&mdash;a tale that has moved readers for generations Little Nell Trent, as beautiful as she is virtuous, lives with her grandfather in his curiosity shop. The only ambition of Nell&rsquo;s loving caretaker is to provide the young girl with a better life. But after attempting to gamble his way out of poverty, the old man finds himself indebted to the wicked and deformed moneylender Daniel Quilp. Thrust into a life of begging on the street, Nell and her grandfather are pursued by villains at every turn&mdash;but they never lose the compassion and generosity in their hearts. With a diverse cast of characters that ranges from scoundrels and vagrants to the truly pure of heart, The Old Curiosity Shop shows Dickens at his best. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.</div>

The Old Curiosity Shop

<div>Charles Dickens&rsquo;s puzzling&mdash;and unfinished&mdash;final novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood has enthralled readers since its 1st publication in 1870. Left unfinished at the time of Dickens&rsquo;s death, the ending of the book remains a mystery. The story follows Edwin Drood, a young man who has promised to wed the beautiful Rosa Bud when he comes of age. But the lovely Rosa has caught the eyes of other men&mdash;including Edwin&rsquo;s uncle Jasper. On a stormy Christmas Eve, Edwin receives an ominous warning, and by the following morning he has mysteriously disappeared. Foul play seems likely, and there are suspects aplenty . . . This beguilingly open-ended mystery is sure to enchant. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.</div>

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

<div>Charles Dickens&rsquo;s charming history of his homeland, spanning from antiquity through the 17th century In this accessible history volume, Charles Dickens turns his talents to the saga of the United Kingdom. With characteristic wit and perspicacity, he brings the kings, soldiers, and civilians who shaped England, Scotland, and Ireland to vivid life. Beginning in 50 B.C.E. and extending through the reign of James II in 1688, this immensely readable book offers readers a complete and engaging look at England&rsquo;s past. Originally appearing in serial form, A Child&rsquo;s History of England provides rare snapshots of Britain throughout the ages as rendered by an unparalleled master. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.</div>

A Child's History of England

<div>A bone-chilling trio of supernatural tales by fiction master Charles Dickens In &ldquo;The Haunted House,&rdquo; a new homeowner discovers he is sharing his bed with the skeleton of the house&rsquo;s former master. In &ldquo;The Trial for Murder,&rdquo; a revengeful ghost haunts a juror serving at his killer&rsquo;s trial. In &ldquo;The Signal-Man,&rdquo; an apparition warns a man of impending disaster. These strange and frightening occurrences unfold in grim and gripping detail in this collection of 3 Victorian ghost stories that puts Charles Dickens&rsquo;s first-rate storytelling on display. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.</div>

Three Ghost Stories

<div>A rare detective story by one of the greatest writers in the English language A mysterious man named Julius Slinkton enters the life of Mr. Sampson, the manager of a life assurance office. Remarkably well-spoken and with insinuating manners, Slinkton initially seems to be the consummate gentleman. But as Sampson soon learns, appearances can be deceiving. Written in the uncanny style of his close friend Wilkie Collins, this detective story is an unusual gem in Charles Dickens&rsquo;s body of work. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.</div>

Hunted Down

<div>A travelogue detailing Charles Dickens&rsquo;s tour of North America In January of 1842, Charles Dickens and his wife, Kate, traveled from Liverpool to Boston. At the time, Dickens had already attained a tremendous level of literary success and fame, and the author hoped his travels would help him gain insight into the New World that had captivated the English imagination. Over the ensuing 6 months, Dickens explored the East Coast and Great Lakes regions of the United States and Canada, observing life on the opposite side of the Atlantic from a distinctly British viewpoint. By turns humorous, critical, witty, and incisive, this travelogue is a unique and keen look at 19th-century North America. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.</div>

American Notes

<div>A tale of family secrets and the damaging corruption of the British legal system from the author of Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. In Bleak House, Charles Dickens not only pries apart the stultifying and ponderous conduct and contracts of British moneyed society, but also takes specific aim at an English judicial system in desperate need of modernization and reform. Featuring the voice of Esther Summerson&mdash;Dickens&rsquo;s only female narrator&mdash;the story unfolds around a generations-old legal case involving numerous inheritances. It is Esther&rsquo;s hidden birthright that sparks the drama, bringing to light such memorable characters as the Lady Dedlock, haunted by her shameful past; John Jarndyce, whose seemingly infinite kindness is driven by hidden guilt; and the sly lawyer Mr. Tulkinghorn, who secretly relishes the power his position gives him over his clients. Weaving a complex web of plots and subplots, Dickens created one of his most dramatically satisfying and boldly ambitious narratives in Bleak House, as the novel offers a scathing indictment of the mores and moral injustices of his time. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.</div>

Bleak House

<div>Three of Dickens&rsquo;s most compelling orphan protagonists&mdash;Oliver Twist, Pip, and Esther Summerson&mdash;in three of his greatest novels. Perhaps no writer in the English language is more closely associated with orphaned characters than Charles Dickens. The trials and dangers for children without parental protection play a significant part in nearly all his work, as both a source of highly entertaining melodrama and pointed social criticism. Oliver Twist: Having endured deplorable conditions in an orphans&rsquo; workhouse, Oliver Twist eventually escapes to London, where he falls in with the Artful Dodger, one of a gang of young pickpockets led by the criminal Fagin. Dickens&rsquo;s heartrending descriptions of institutional abuses as well as the brutal reality of life on London&rsquo;s streets for homeless children argued strongly for social reform. Great Expectations: Dickens&rsquo;s penultimate novel centers on the orphan Pip and his anonymous benefactor, whom he assumes is the wealthy and eccentric recluse Miss Havisham, and whose adopted daughter, the beautiful but emotionally distant Estella, he falls hopelessly in love with. John Irving called it &ldquo;the most wonderful and most perfectly worked-out plot for a novel in the English language.&rdquo; Bleak House: Dickens&rsquo;s masterful satire of the English judicial system features his only female narrator, Esther Summerson, who is raised as an orphan. Esther&rsquo;s true identity forms much of the mystery and drama of a complex novel involving an endless legal case&mdash;&ldquo;the family curse&rdquo;&mdash;and all the lives it affects. As an entertainer and a moralist, Dickens utilized his vulnerable young protagonists to great effect, creating some of the most unforgettable characters in the history of literature. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.</div>

The Charles Dickens Collection Volume One

<div>The inspiration for the film starring Dev Patel: A sprawling masterpiece about a boy making his way to manhood in nineteenth-century England. David Copperfield&rsquo;s father died before he was born, but he grew up loved and comfortable&mdash;until he turned seven and his mother married Edward Murdstone. His new stepfather could not banish little Davy fast enough, sending him to live with the housekeeper, Peggotty, and her fisherman brother. Murdstone growing ever more tyrannical, David&rsquo;s next stop is boarding school, and there he learns of the death of his mother and her new baby. David must now find his own place in the world. His journey will take him to many places and introduce him to many people, friends and enemies alike, before he is really able to learn from his experiences and find his true heart. Set against the backdrop of Victorian-era England, this semiautobiographical coming-of-age story is filled with humor, emotion, and insightful social commentary.</div>

David Copperfield

<div>&ldquo;When it comes to walking the mean streets, Dickens could give modern genre authors the tour of their lives.&rdquo; &mdash;Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times When a corpse is found in the Thames River and identified as John Harmon, many lives will be forever changed. John, who had been abroad and estranged from his miserly father for years, will no longer collect his inheritance. It will instead go to the miser&rsquo;s employees, Mr. and Mrs. Boffin, transforming their circumstances. The miser&rsquo;s will had placed a condition on John: marry Bella Wilfer, a woman he had never met, in order to collect the estate. Now Bella is on her own&mdash;until she is generously taken in by the Boffins. These events not only alter the course of several lives, but also end a life&mdash;that of the waterman who found John&rsquo;s body. Accused by a rival of murdering the heir, Gaffer Hexam is soon found drowned as well, resulting in a puzzling mystery and setting Gaffer&rsquo;s impoverished daughter on a new path that will lead her in surprising, and dangerous, directions. Blending propulsive plot twists with sharp social satire, Our Mutual Friend is the final masterpiece completed by Victorian England&rsquo;s greatest novelist. &ldquo;In addition to its realistic police procedures and incisive criminal psychology, Our Mutual Friend is steeped in the gloomy atmosphere and foreboding imagery that one associates with the modern suspense thriller.&rdquo; &mdash;The New York Times</div>

Our Mutual Friend

<div>A young man fights to save his mother and sister&mdash;and a group of abused schoolboys&mdash;in this novel of hardship and heroism from the great Victorian writer. Suddenly fatherless and penniless, young Nicholas Nickleby can find no help for himself and his family. His uncle Ralph may be rich, but he is neither a kind nor an honorable man&mdash;so it is up to Nicholas to take responsibility. His adventures in Victorian England will take Nicholas to a job at a boys&rsquo; school run by a brutal and dictatorial headmaster, a London slum, and a theater troupe where he works under an assumed name&mdash;and into a web of revenge, blackmail, and kidnapping&mdash;as he struggles to overcome the evil forces arrayed against him. &ldquo;The novel has everything . . . a supporting cast of heroes, villains and eccentrics, set in a London where vast wealth and desperate poverty live cheek-by-jowl.&rdquo; &mdash;The Times</div>

Nicholas Nickleby

<div>An epic tale of two families in Victorian England and their shifting fortunes by one of the world&rsquo;s greatest novelists.For decades, William Dorrit has been confined to Marshalsea, a debtor&rsquo;s prison, which he cannot leave until he pays what he owes&mdash;meanwhile preventing him from getting a job in order to do so. His daughter Amy, born in Marshalsea, is now old enough to provide some help by earning money as a seamstress, and is free to come and go from the prison as she pleases.It is during one of her journeys to the outside world that she meets Arthur Clennam. Amy sews for Arthur&rsquo;s mother, a rigid, emotionally distant woman who is also confined, in this case to a wheelchair. Arthur knows his mother is hiding a dark secret. But while he tries in vain to unearth it, something else is revealed: a large inheritance to which none other than William Dorrit is entitled. Thus begins a sprawling and beguiling novel of wealth and poverty, suspense and adventure, at once a satirical commentary about the British economic class system and bureaucratic absurdity, an engrossing mystery, and a tribute to the power of love.</div>

Little Dorrit

<div>Dickens&rsquo;s first novel follows the comic adventures of a band of men as they journey around nineteenth-century England.Set in the early nineteenth century, The Pickwick Papers follows well-off gentleman Samuel Pickwick, who forms a club with three friends. Their goal is to travel through the English countryside by coach, observing the world beyond London and staying at inns along the way. The reader follows Pickwick and his pals&mdash;less-than-skillful sportsman Nathaniel Winkle; self-proclaimed poet Augustus Snodgrass; and obese Tracy Tupman, who fancies himself a ladies&rsquo; man&mdash;as they stumble into both adventure and trouble. Joined by Pickwick&rsquo;s valet, a talkative coachman, and another traveler with a knack for tall tales, this merry band will entertain the reader while offering a tour of England in the 1820s, populated by an assortment of colorful characters.</div>

The Pickwick Papers

<div>After losing his inheritance, a young man strives to make his own fortune, in this witty, wide-ranging saga by the iconic nineteenth-century novelist.When young Martin Chuzzlewit falls in love with his grandfather&rsquo;s devoted nursemaid, the elder Chuzzlewit is furious and decides to disinherit the boy. Thus, Martin is thrust into the world to find his own way. An apprenticeship with an architect seems like a fine start. But not long after Martin begins working for Seth Pecksniff&mdash;who has a secret agenda in hiring him&mdash;Martin&rsquo;s grandfather maneuvers to have him dismissed. Eventually, Martin makes his way to America in the company of his friend Tom. But the trip is an unmitigated disaster, and they are plagued by misfortune until they turn tail and race back to England. Little does Martin know there are far more surprises awaiting him in this novel of twists and turns, dreamers and schemers, greed and murder, from the Victorian era&rsquo;s literary master.</div>

Martin Chuzzlewit

<div>The story of a miser&rsquo;s transformation, and the most beloved Christmas novel of all time. An immediate bestseller in the mid-nineteenth century and praised by the Illustrated London News for its &ldquo;playful and sparkling humor [and] gentle spirit of humanity,&rdquo; Charles Dickens&rsquo;s A Christmas Carol has remained continuously in print for more than one hundred years, a cherished part of the holiday season for millions of readers. The novel follows Ebenezer Scrooge, a rich man who has no patience for the merriment of the holidays and prefers counting his money to counting his blessings . . . until a series of spectral visitors awaken the Christmas spirit in his heart. Both a spine-tingling ghost story and a historical portrait of poverty and greed in Victorian England, A Christmas Carol is a delightful classic for readers young and old.</div>

A Christmas Carol

<div>Classic stories of occult fiction by Dion Fortune, Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, H. P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker, Marie Corelli, R. W. Chambers, and more. These are the authors and tales that inspired modern masters like Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and Nic Pizzolatto&mdash;edited and introduced by leading occult author and scholar Judika Illes. These powerfully evocative stories&mdash;some of which have been forgotten over the years, like buried treasure&mdash;will thrill and chill readers to the bone. During the dark, eerie hours, when the wind is blowing and the ghosts are roaming outside, these tales can fill a night with pleasant terror&mdash;as well as encouraging our minds to venture beyond the mundane into the realm of the fantastic.</div>

The Weiser Book of the Fantastic and Forgotten

<div>Three classic novels of wealth, poverty, murder, and ambition from the greatest storyteller of the Victorian era. Filled with drama, emotion, and suspense, these three novels have compelled and delighted readers for well over a century. Martin Chuzzlewit: After losing his inheritance, a young man strives to make his own fortune, in this witty, wide-ranging saga. Nicholas Nickleby: A young man fights to save his mother, his sister, and a group of abused schoolboys in this novel of hardship and heroism. Our Mutual Friend: When a corpse is found in the River Thames, it will alter the course of several lives. &ldquo;In addition to its realistic police procedures and incisive criminal psychology, Our Mutual Friend is steeped in the gloomy atmosphere and foreboding imagery that one associates with the modern suspense thriller.&rdquo; &mdash;The New York Times</div>

The Charles Dickens Collection Volume Two

<div>Three of the brilliant novelist&rsquo;s best-known classics in one volume, offering a wide-ranging portrait of nineteenth-century British society. A perfect introduction to the world of Charles Dickens, this volume contains three of his greatest novels. Little Dorrit: An epic tale of two families in Victorian England, one wealthy and the other living in a debtors&rsquo; prison, and their shifting fortunes. David Copperfield: A sprawling masterpiece&mdash;and the inspiration for the new film starring Dev Patel&mdash;about a boy making his way to manhood in nineteenth-century England. Hard Times: A young girl from the circus world is taken in by a repressed school superintendent and his family in a dreary mill town&mdash;and brings unexpected change to their lives.</div>

The Charles Dickens Collection Volume Three

<div>Three tales that showcase the nineteenth-century novelist&rsquo;s famous flair for suspense and plot twists. This volume includes three titles by Victorian England&rsquo;s greatest storyteller. Hunted Down: The manager of a life assurance office finds his suspicions growing after becoming acquainted with a mysterious gentleman in this rare detective story by Charles Dickens. The Mystery of Edwin Drood: In this unfinished puzzler&mdash;the basis for the Broadway musical that won five Tony Awards&mdash;a young man disappears and it may be connected to the beautiful woman he was planning to marry. The Old Curiosity Shop: Little Nell&rsquo;s grandfather is determined to give her a better life, but his attempts lead to trouble, in this beloved classic. &ldquo;When it comes to walking the mean streets, Dickens could give modern genre authors the tour of their lives.&rdquo; &mdash;Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times</div>

Charles Dickens

Books By Charles Dickens (23 Books)