PICTURES FROM ITALY

BARNABY RUDGE

Barnaby Rudge, pathetic and half-witted son of a murderer, and his raven Grip play unwitting parts in the Gordon riots of 1780 and in the family feud of the Haredale and Chester families.

BLEAK HOUSE

This is Dickens at his best. A book full of characters, twists and turns, with a deep understanding of human nature. It is both tragic and romantic at the same time.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Ebenezer Scrooge is a heartless old miser who doesn't enjoy Christmas and doesn't think anyone else should, either. But, one Christmas Eve, some ghostly visitors take Scrooge on a journey that changes his mind for ever.

DAVID COPPERFIELD

After suffering at the hands of a tyrannical step-father, bullying at boarding school and menial employment in London, life changes for David when he runs away to Dover and is taken in by his eccentric aunt, Betsy Trotwood.

DOMBEY AND SON

Dombey, a widower, is a rich ship-owner with a son, a strange sickly lad, and a daughter he ignores. The boy dies at school, and Dombey is distraught. He gradually loses his fortune and his health and only his daughter can rescue him from desolation.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Pip is brought up by his sister and her husband Joe Gargery, the village blacksmith. At the house of the strange Miss Haversham he falls in love with Estella, and aspires to become a gentleman. When money comes to him from a mysterious source he assumes his benefactor is Miss Haversham.

HARD TIMES

Thomas Gradgrind sees himself as an exponent of Utilitarianism, and uses the philosophies of facts and statistics to bring up his two children, resulting in unhappy consequences.

LITTLE DORRIT

For all of her 22 years, Amy Dorrit has lived in Marshalsea prison, trapped with her family because of her father's debts. Her only escape is to work as a seamstress for the kind Mrs Clennam. But when it is unexpectedly discovered that her father is heir to a fortune, some shocking truths emerge and Amy's life changes for ever.

MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT

Long convinced that his family are only after his money, Martin Chuzzlewit takes in an orphaned girl - Mary Graham - to be his nursemaid. But when Martin's grandson - young Martin - falls in love with Mary, he is disowned. Cast out, young Martin travels to the American West to build his fortune. However, his journey has unforeseen consequences.

THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD

Through a mist of decay and opium, Dickens weaves a tale of murder and mystery in this, his last novel. Set in the fictional cathedral town of Cloisterham, John Jasper, the choir-master, takes an obsessive interest in his nephew Edwin Drood and his fiancée Rosa Bud. But when young Edwin disappears on Christmas Eve, has Jasper killed him? Alas, we’ll never know as Dickens died before completing the novel.

NICHOLAS NICKLEBY

Nicholas and Kate, left penniless by the death of their father, appeal in vain to their wealthy Uncle Ralph. Nicholas' misfortunes continue when he is sent to work at Dotheboys Hall, a school for urchins run by the bullying Mr Squeers.

THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP

Little Nell and her feckless grandfather are forced to leave their magical shop of curiosities in London. They are pursued across the English countryside by the grotesquely evil dwarf Quilp. They escape – but at what cost?

OLIVER TWIST

In the classic story of the Victorian underworld, orphaned Oliver runs away from the workhouse and falls into the clutches of Fagin, Bill Sykes and the Artful Dodger.

OUR MUTUAL FRIEND

This is the last completed novel by Charles Dickens. A story of love, inheritance and the power of money. Also of a society fallen prey to the dawning of commercialism.

THE PICKWICK PAPERS

In this first novel by Dickens we follow Mr Pickwick and Sam Weller, his sharp-tongued cockney servant, travelling around England with their friends in search of adventure and knowledge. Brilliantly comic scenes at the Eatanswill election and the trial of Mrs Bardell vs Pickwick contrast with the horrors of the debtor’s prison.

A TALE OF TWO CITIES

Set in Paris and London in the French revolution. Dr Manette has recently been released from the Bastille after 18 years as a political prisoner. Brought to England he begins to recover his sanity. Charles Darnay also arrives, and falls in love with Manette's daughter, Lucie. In the Terror he returns to Paris to rescue a servant, but is caught. He is only saved when barrister Sydney Carton, also in love with Lucie, takes his place on the scaffold.