
author
1812–1870
Famous for unforgettable characters, sharp humor, and a deep sympathy for ordinary people, this Victorian storyteller turned social criticism into some of the most widely loved novels in English. His books still feel lively and dramatic, whether he is writing about hardship, hope, or the strange comedy of everyday life.

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by William Harrison Ainsworth, Charles Dickens, W. H. (William Hamilton) Maxwell

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Rebecca Harding Davis, Thomas De Quincey, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton, Edgar Allan Poe, Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Augustus Scott, Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by C. Z. (Charles Zachary) Barnett, Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins

by Charles Dickens

by Hallie Erminie Rives, Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Percy Fitzgerald, Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens

by Charles Dickens
Born in Portsmouth, England, in 1812, Charles Dickens drew heavily on his own early hardships, including time spent working in a blacking factory after his father was sent to debtors' prison. Those experiences helped shape the emotional force of his fiction and his lasting concern with poverty, injustice, and the struggles of children and working people.
He first became widely known with The Pickwick Papers and went on to write major novels including Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and A Christmas Carol. Many of his works were published in serial form, which helped build a huge popular audience and gave his storytelling its famous momentum, cliffhangers, and large cast of vivid characters.
Dickens was also a journalist, editor, and celebrated public reader of his own work. He died in 1870, leaving his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished, but his influence has never faded: he remains one of the defining voices of Victorian literature and one of the most widely read novelists in the world.