The world of Charles Dickens - Martin Fido

Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, David Copperfield, Bleak House and Nicholas Nickleby - just some of the novels that have made Charles Dickens an internationally celebrated author. A liberal, middle-class Englishman, his novels - and indeed his own life - reflected the poverty, wealth, and corruption of the Victorian era. The dynamic flux of these social forces is observed and embodied with power and wit in the vast cast of characters that appear in his many novels.

The World of Charles Dickens also explores the Britain the author inhabited. It was a period of great influence - the Industrial Revolution had created a new Britain, with bustling cities and huge factories. Much of Dickens' work was dominated by Victorian London - a place of squalor, vice and crime. In his novels he documented his outrage at social injustice and tyranny, while telling enthralling stories. He created characters full of humour, pathos and instilled with his great humanity that have ensured his work is as relevant today as it was during his own lifetime.