Book Description

The Wordsworth Classics covers a huge list of beloved works of literature in English and translations. This growing series is rigorously updated, with scholarly introductions and notes added to new titles.

This work is a tale of imprisonment, both literal and symbolic, that emphasizes personal responsibility in all areas of life. It draws on Dicken's own childhood experiences of the Marshalsea Debtor's Prison, and is full of psychological insights combining historical and social detail.

The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

Novel by Charles Dickens, published serially from 1855 to 1857 and in book form in 1857. The novel attacks the injustices of the contemporary English legal system, particularly the institution of debtors' prison. Amy Dorrit, referred to as Little Dorrit, is born and lives much of her life at the Marshalsea prison where her father is imprisoned for debt. She earns meager wages at jobs outside the prison walls, returning nightly to Marshalsea. One of her jobs is as a seamstress for Mrs. Clennam, whose son Arthur eventually helps free Mr. Dorrit from prison. Arthur becomes a debtor himself and falls in love with Little Dorrit, but because their financial circumstances are now reversed, he does not ask her to marry him. In the end miserly Mrs. Clenam is forced to reveal that Arthur is not really her son and that she had been keeping money from him and the Dorrits for many years. Little Dorrit and Arthur are then free to marry.

About Author

David Gates is the author of the novels Jernigan and Preston Falls and a collection of short stories, The Wonders of the Invisible World. He writes for Newsweek and teaches at the New School for Social Research and Hunter College. He lives in Brooklyn and in Washington County, New York.

Book Dimension :

length: (cm)19.8 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)12.6