Showing results by author "Charles Dickens" in All Categories

After an escaped prisoner bullies him into freeing him using stolen tools, seven-year-old orphan Pip is made to pay regular visits to the mysterious spinster Miss Havisham, who lives in the wedding dress she wore when jilted at the altar and keeps every clock in her crumbling mansion frozen at the same time. While there, he meets and instantly falls in love with her beautiful but aloof ward Estella

Listen to the story of Pip, an English orphan who rises to wealth. After he deserts his true friends, he becomes humbled by his own arrogance. Great Expectations is Dickens at his finest.

London in the 1830s was no place to be if you were a hungry 10-year-old boy, an orphan without friends or family, with no home to go to, and only a penny in your pocket to buy a piece of bread.But Oliver Twist finds some friends – Fagin, the Artful Dodger, and Charley Bates. They give him food and shelter, and play games with him, but it is not until some days later that Oliver finds out what kind of friends they are and what kind of ’games’ they play. An Oxford Bookworms Library reader for learners of English, adapted from the Charles Dickens original by Richard Rogers.

In a gloomy, neglected house Miss Havisham sits, as she has sat year after year, in a wedding dress and veil that were once white, and are now faded and yellow with age. Her face is like a death’s head; her dark eyes burn with bitterness and hate. By her side sits a proud and beautiful girl, and in front of her, trembling with fear in his thick country boots, stands young Pip.

A terrifying encounter with an escaped convict in a graveyard on the wild Kent marshes; a summons to meet the bitter, decaying Miss Havisham and her beautiful, cold-hearted ward Estella; the sudden generosity of a mysterious benefactor - these form a series of events that change the orphaned Pip's life forever, and he eagerly abandons his humble origins to begin a new life as a gentleman. Dickens' novel depicts Pip's development through adversity as he discovers the true nature of his 'great expectations'.

The short story is considered to be one of the most challenging genres because of the need for compact plotlines and the ability to conjure up atmosphere and character in a few sentences and to engage the reader instantly. This collection presents 66 of the greatest examples of the genre - many of them well known, some hidden literary treasures, all of them exquisite examples of the short story at its finest.

Penguin Classics presents the audiobook adaptation of Martin Chuzzlewit, a tale of inheritiance and destiny and the story Dickens considered his best. Read by John Wells. The greed of his family has led wealthy old Martin Chuzzlewit to become suspicious and misanthropic, leaving his grandson and...

"Little Dorrit is a novel by Charles Dickens, originally published in serial form between 1855 and 1857. It satirises the shortcomings of both government and society, including the institution of debtors' prisons, where debtors were imprisoned, unable to work, until they repaid their debts. The prison in this case is the Marshalsea, where Dickens's own father had been imprisoned'." - Wikipedia

This delightful collection of children's stories is perfect listening for the whole family. Featured are four beloved stories to entice your imagination, including A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, The Bell by Hans Christian Andersen, and Snow White by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Each story is performed by a full cast of voice actors with sound effects and music.

Il Canto di Natale è uno dei racconti più celebri di Dickens e uno dei più famosi dedicati a quella che è la ricorrenza dei buoni sentimenti per eccellenza...

A sweeping tale of hardship and redemption, Little Dorrit stands as one of Dickens’s most profound works—an exploration of human dignity in the face of injustice, and a timeless affirmation of resilience, compassion, and the enduring hope for freedom.

In his final Christmas story, Dickens narrates the hair-raising experiences of a professor. As the protagonist dwells on his past sorrows and mistakes, a phantom visits him. It offers him a bizarre escape from painful recollections of yesteryear by offering to eradicate his memory.

"To Be Read at Dusk" is one of Dickens better ghost/phantasm stories, complete with disappearances and people lost forever through other worldly influences or death. A story within a story told by couriers, go-betweens in the age of Dickens.

Gerald Dickens, the great great grandson of Charles Dickens, reads one of his more unusual novels, Doctor Marigold. First introduced in 1865, The Adventures of Doctor Marigold pulls the audience into the story until they become part of this gentleman's life.

Through the story of Thomas Gradgrind, a strict, no-nonsense man who values "facts" above all else, Dickens explores the consequences of an education system that prioritizes logic and reason over imagination, emotion, and humanity. Gradgrind's rigid philosophy deeply affects his children and the lives of many others, including the innocent and idealistic Sissy Jupe, whose life is shaped by her connection to the circus and its emotional, colorful world.

Included: The Gift of the Magi (O. Henry) The Fir Tree (Hans Christian Andersen) The Little Match Girl (Hans Christian Andersen) The Steadfast Tin Soldier (Hans Christian Andersen) The Holy Night (Selma Lagerlöf) Little Gretchen and the Wooden Shoe (Elizabeth Harrison) A Letter from Santa Claus (Mark Twain) Mary Returns The Doll The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter) Toinette and the Elves (Susan Coolidge) The Mistletoe Bough (Anthony Trollope) Not if I Know It (Anthony Trollope) The Two Generals (Anthony Trollope) Christmas Every Day (William Dean Howells) and more

Born within the confines of Marshalsea Prison for Debtors, Amy—affectionately known as Little Dorrit—dedicates her life to caring for her proud but fallen father, William Dorrit. Her humble existence takes a dramatic turn when she meets Arthur Clennam, setting off a series of events that will not only transform Amys life but also reshape the fortunes of the entire Dorrit family. In Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens masterfully immerses us in a vividly rich tapestry of human experiences, where themes of virtue and vice collide, and the boundaries of strength and weakness blur. With his ...

Dickens is a name that dominates the landscape of English novelists. His works are masterpieces and he is held everywhere in the highest regard. In his fairly short life of 58 years he accomplished an extraordinary number of classic novels, especially in light of his humble and poor beginnings. Here we collect together his slim number of poems. Concise it may be, but from the mind of the master it most certainly reveals some insights of great interest.

At the heart of each of these great classic stories is an adoptee with an indomitable spirit who becomes the heroine (or hero) of her own life. "The bravery it takes for an unwanted orphan to forge their own path in life was as great when these stories were written as it is today," says narrator Alison Larkin, who draws on her own adoption experience to bring these stories to authentic new life.

This comic masterpiece is read by Paul Schofield. It has been noted also by Dickens’ biographer, Forster, that it marked a crucial phase in the author's development as he began to delve deeper into the 'springs of character'. "Martin Chuzzlewit" is Charles Dickens' comic masterpiece about...