Other editions of book The Old Curiosity Shop

How is this book unique? Font adjustments & biography included Unabridged (100% Original content) Illustrated About The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens The Old Curiosity Shop is a novel by Charles Dickens. The plot follows the life of Nell Trent and her grandfather, both residents of The Old Curiosity Shop in London. The Old Curiosity Shop was one of two novels (the other being Barnaby Rudge) which Dickens published along with short stories in his weekly serial Master Humphrey's Clock, which lasted from 1840 to 1841. It was so popular that New York readers stormed the wharf when the ship bearing the final instalment arrived in 1841. The Old Curiosity Shop was printed in book form in 1841. Queen Victoria read the novel in 1841, finding it "very interesting and cleverly written."

First published as a weekly serial in 1841, "The Old Curiosity Shop" is a novel that details the life of a young orphaned girl named Nell Trent. She lives with her loving grandfather in his London curiosity shop, until a gamble for wealth forces them to leave for the English countryside, penniless. After their departure, they are sought by both friends who wish to help them and cruel men with harmful designs. The pair of beggars ultimately experience the extremes of human loyalty and villainy in their state of abject poverty. Although one of his lesser known works, Dickens artfully displays a cast of diverse characters in a tale that captivates readers to its tragic conclusion.

The Old Curiosity Shop follows the life of Nell Trent and her grandfather, both residents of The Old Curiosity Shop in London. It was one of two novels (the other being Barnaby Rudge) which Dickens published along with short stories in his weekly serial Master Humphrey's Clock, which lasted from 1840 to 1841. The Old Curiosity Shop was so popular that New York readers stormed the wharf when the ship bearing the final installment arrived in 1841, shouting to arriving sailors (who might have already read the final chapters in the United Kingdom), “Is Little Nell alive?”

The Old Curiosity Shop tells the story of Nell Trent, a beautiful and virtuous young girl of 'not quite fourteen.' An orphan, she lives with her maternal grandfather (whose name is never revealed) in his shop of odds and ends. Her grandfather loves her dearly, and Nell does not complain, but she lives a lonely existence with almost no friends her own age. Her only friend is Kit, an honest boy employed at the shop, and whom she is teaching to write. Secretly obsessed with ensuring that Nell does not die in poverty as her parents did, her grandfather attempts to make Nell a good inheritance through gambling at cards. He keeps his nocturnal games a secret, but borrows heavily from the evil Daniel Quilp, a malicious, grotesquely deformed, hunchbacked dwarf moneylender. In the end, he gambles away what little money they have, and Quilp seizes the opportunity to take possession of the shop and evict Nell and her grandfather. Her grandfather suffers a breakdown that leaves him bereft of his wits, and Nell takes him away to the Midlands of England, to live as beggars.

Night is generally my time for walking. In the summer I often leave home early in the morning, and roam about fields and lanes all day, or even escape for days or weeks together; but, saving in the country, I seldom go out until after dark, though, Heaven be thanked, I love its light and feel the cheerfulness it sheds upon the earth, as much as any creature living. I have fallen insensibly into this habit, both because it favours my infirmity and because it affords me greater opportunity of speculating on the characters and occupations of those who fill the streets. The glare and hurry of broad noon are not adapted to idle pursuits like mine; a glimpse of passing faces caught by the light of a street-lamp or a shop window is often better for my purpose than their full revelation in the daylight; and, if I must add the truth, night is kinder in this respect than day, which too often destroys an air-built castle at the moment of its completion, without the least ceremony or remorse.