"He would make a lovely corpse." Martin Chuzzlewit is an old rich man with a handful of relatives just waiting for him to die so they can inherit his money. But old Chuzzlewit has no intention of kicking the bucket anytime soon. He's been raising an orphan girl to take care of him for as long as he lives. And to ensure she'll do a good job he's made it clear that she'll only be cared for while he lives. But one day his grandson comes around and turns...

When his newest book is an utter flop, Charles Dickens' publishers offer an ultimatum: either he writes a Christmas book in a month, or they will call in his debts, and he could lose everything. On one of his long walks, he meets a young woman who might be just the muse he needs. Over the next few weeks, Eleanor Lovejoy propels Dickens on a Scrooge-like journey that tests everything he believes about generosity, friendship, ambition - and Christmas....

The sensational bestselling story of Little Nell, the beautiful child thrown into a shadowy, terrifying world, seems to belong less to the history of the Victorian novel than to folklore, fairy tale, or myth. The sorrows of Nell and her grandfather are offset by Dickens's creation of a dazzling contemporary world inhabited by some of his most brilliantly drawn characters-the eloquent ne'er-do-well Dick Swiveller; the hungry maid known as the "Marchioness";...

1835. Young journalist Charles Dickens is invited to dinner at the estate of the Evening Chronicle's co-editor. He is smitten with his boss's daughter, vivacious Kate Hogarth. They are having the best of times when a scream shatters the evening. In the neighbors' home, Miss Christiana Lugoson lies unconscious on the floor. By morning, she will be dead. When Charles hears of a very similar mysterious death a year ago to the date, also a young woman,...

"From the critically acclaimed author of The Invention of Murder, an extraordinary, revelatory portrait of everyday life on the streets of Dickens' London.The nineteenth century was a time of unprecedented change, and nowhere was this more apparent than London. In only a few decades, the capital grew from a compact Regency town into a sprawling metropolis of 6.5 million inhabitants, the largest city the world had ever seen. Technology--railways, street-lighting,...

"This is not the republic of my imagination," Charles Dickens noted ruefully of his 1842 visit to the United States. His American Notes forms a stinging reproof of the country's embrace of slavery, its corrupt press and woeful sanitary conditions, and its citizens' offensive manners. Written with the author's customary observational powers and incisive wit, this volume offers a fascinating glimpse of 19th-century America. Dickens was not entirely...

"Addie's getting into the spirit for the upcoming Charity Auction-especially since she's got an 1843 copy of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol to donate. Her former colleagues at the Boston Public Library have confirmed that its worth runs toward the high five figures, which should help with the new pediatric wing. Her mood darkens, though, when a visitor from the past appears-Jonathan Hemingway, the father of her late fiance. His presence stirs...

Chesterton's two-part biography of Charles Dickens examines the life and works of 19th century British literary figure Charles Dickens. Chesterton's reinterpretation of Dickens' life and work proved important to the modern perception of Dickens as a literary giant, and the work has received widespread praise. Includes an active table of contents for easy navigation.