"Charles Dickens is not feeling the Christmas spirit. His newest book is an utter flop, the critics have turned against him, relatives near and far hound him for money. While his wife plans a lavish holiday party for their ever-expanding family and circle of friends, Dickens has visions of the poor house. But when his publishers try to blackmail him into writing a Christmas book to save them all from financial ruin, he refuses ... On one of his long...

As a child, Charles Dickens worked in a shoe polish factory where his gritty surroundings inspired some of the most memorable characters and settings in literary history. Known for his masterful storytelling in books likeOliver Twist, Great Expectations, and A Christmas Carol, Dickens toured the globe as one of the most famous people of his era. Widely considered the greatest writer of the Victorian age, Dickens's literary masterpieces continue to...

Definitive, concise, and very interesting. From William Shakespeare to Winston Churchill, the Very Interesting People series provides authoritative bite-sized biographies of Britain's most fascinating historical figures - people whose influence and importance have stood the test of time. Each book in the series is based upon the biographical entry from the world-famous Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens, the tenth child of Victorian England's most famous writer, Charles Dickens, is a bit of a disappointment to his parents. Unable to apply himself at school and adrift in life, the teenage boy is sent to Australia in the hopes he can make something of his life. Or at least fail while out of the public eye. He soon finds himself in the remote Outback, surrounded by colonials, ex-convicts, ex-soldiers, Aboriginals, and very...

"In an alternative version of Victorian London, a seventeen-year-old Dodger, a cunning and cheeky street urchin, unexpectedly rises in life when he saves a mysterious girl, meets Charles Dickens, and unintentionally puts a stop to the murders of Sweeny Todd"--

On Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three ghosts who try to convince him to change his life.

A biography of the English writer whose numerous novels recorded the social conditions and way of life of the poor in nineteenth-century London.

A collection of short stories and essays. The story, My Dinner at the White House, is an amusing piece on a dinner with President Reagan, The Imaginary Girlfriend is on the arts of writing and wrestling, while the title story is on a pig farmer who is being harassed by boys.

"When A Christmas Carol was first published in 1843 it was an overnight success, and set a precedent that was to be followed by other Christmas books, including The Chimes (1844) and The Cricket (1845). Each book was published at the same time of year, in the same format, and extolled similar values about the virtues of love, charity and the family unit. But none would achieve the cult status of A Christmas Carol, a book so popular it has become part...