"Great Expectations" is at once a superbly constructed novel of spellbinding mastery and a profound examination of moral values. Here, some of Dickens's most memorable characters come to play their part in a story whose title itself reflects the deep irony that shaped Dickens's searching reappraisal of the Victorian middle class.

"In Eliza Davis's day, Charles Dickens was the most celebrated living writer in England. But some of his books reflected a prejudice that was all too common at the time: prejudice against Jewish people. Eliza was Jewish, and her heart hurt to see a Jewish character in Oliver Twist portrayed as ugly and selfish. She wanted to speak out about how unfair that was, even if it meant speaking out against the great man himself. So she wrote a letter to Charles...

The old curiosity shop (1995, 188 min.): A shopkeeper is forced to flee London and journey through the English countryside with his granddaughter. David Copperfield (1970, 118 min.): A grown David Copperfield reflects on his life, recalling his youth and the characters who shaped it, through a series of flashbacks. Scrooge (b & w, 1935, 61 min.): This is a heartwarming, faithful retelling of Charles Dickens' classic novel, A Christmas carol, the...

David Copperfield, whose stepfather casts him out after the death of David's mother, lives through trials and tribulations, first at a boys' school and then as a young man in London before he goes to live with his great-aunt and eventually finds happiness.

Bleak House, Dickens's most daring experiment in the narration of a complex plot, challenges the reader to make connections - between the fashionable and the outcast, the beautiful and the ugly, the powerful and the victims. Nowhere in Dickens's later novels is his attack on an uncaring society more imaginatively embodied, but nowhere either is the mixture of comedy and angry satire more deftly managed. Bleak House defies a single description. It...

Contains over 2,500 alphabetically arranged entries that provide a wide variety of information about nineteenth-century English novelist Charles Dickens, covering his novels and other writings, characters, biographical details, social themes, literary forms and terms, and other topics.

Timely advice from a friend leads the struggling author, Charles Dickens, into peril as he does some soul-searching involving his desire to write for finanacial security. This fuels his own fears and self-pity, but he receives unexpected help for a young girl, who reawakens in him a desire to refocus his priorities. Unless he can discover the healing power of a simple act of charity, his dream of truly making a difference will be as dead as a doornail....

After Pip, an orphaned blacksmith's apprentice inherits a fortune from an anonymous benefactor, his future seems promising. But a bitter heiress is intent on preventing Pip from finding true love.

The journey that led to Charles Dickens' creation of 'A Christmas Carol,' a timeless tale that would redefine the holiday.