The archetypal Victorian melodrama, as heartfelt and
moving today as when it was first published, Charles
Dickens's ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' is edited with
notes and an introduction by Norman Page in ''Penguin
Classics''. Little Nell Trent lives in the quiet gloom
of the old curiosity shop with her ailing grandfather,
for whom she cares with selfless devotion. But when they
are unable to pay their debts to the stunted, lecherous
and demonic money-lender Daniel Quilp, the shop is
seized and they are forced to flee, thrown into a
shadowy world in which there seems to be no safe haven.
Dickens's portrayal of the innocent, tragic Nell made
''The Old Curiosity Shop'' an instant bestseller that
captured the hearts of the nation, even as it was
criticised for its sentimentality by figures such as
Oscar Wilde. Yet alongside the story's pathos are some
of Dickens's greatest comic and grotesque creations: the
ne'er-do-well Dick Swiveller, the mannish lawyer Sally
Brass, the half-starved 'Marchioness' and the lustful,
loathsome Quilp himself.This edition, based on the
original text of 1841, contains an introduction by
Norman Page discussing the various contrasting themes of
the novel and its roots in Dickens's own personal
tragedy, with prefaces to the 1841 and 1848 editions, a
chronology, notes and original illustrations produced
for the serial version. Charles Dickens is one of the
best-loved novelists in the English language, whose
200th anniversary was celebrated in 2012. His most
famous books, including ''Oliver Twist'', ''Great
Expectations'', ''A Tale of Two Cities'', ''David
Copperfield'' and ''The Pickwick Papers'', have been
adapted for stage and screen and read by millions. If
you enjoyed ''The Old Curiosity Shop'', you might like
Dickens' ''Hard Times'', also available in ''Penguin
Classics''. |
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