Charles Dickens is one of the greatest English writers of all time. Born in 1812, Dickens was sent to work at the age of twelve after his father was imprisoned for debt. He taught himself shorthand and became a reporter for the Morning Chronicle, quickly achieving success. The Pickwick Papers were published in 1836-7. He continued to write novels like Oliver Twist, Bleak House and David Copperfield until his death in 1870.

Deborah A. Thomas is Professor of English at Villanova University, Pennsylvania. She is the author of Dickens and the Short Story, Thackeray and Slavery and Hard Times: A Fable of Fragmentation and Wholeness.