Nicholas Nickleby
Charles Dickens
Nicholas Nickleby
3.95from 47,605 ratingson Goodreads
"Nicholas Nickleby" by Charles Dickens is a novel originally published as a serial from 1838 to 1839. After his father's death, young Nicholas must support his mother and sister, seeking help from their wealthy but cold-hearted uncle Ralph. When Ralph sends Nicholas to a brutal Yorkshire boarding school, he witnesses terrible cruelty and befriends an abused servant boy named Smike. Their escape sets off a chain of events involving theatrical troupes, harassment, schemes, and dark family secrets that will test Nicholas's courage and determination.
About the author
Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was the defining English novelist of the Victorian age and, in his own lifetime, its most famous writer. When his father was imprisoned for debt the twelve-year-old Dickens was sent to work in a blacking factory, and the experience runs under everything he wrote about childhood, poverty and institutions that fail the people in them. Publishing in monthly instalments, he wrote for an audience that read each part as it appeared, which is part of why his books are built of cliffhangers and crowds of minor characters nobody forgets. His novels include Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol.