Other editions of book A House to Let

A Christmas and New Year's Story. Though totally unlike any of Dickens' Christmas stories of former years, this is by no means inferior to the best of them. It may not be so highly imaginative as the first of his productions of the kind, but it evinces even greater depth. Cunningly interwoven with the main plot of 'A House To Let' are three stories. The story of 'The Manchester Marriage,' contains two or three unexaggerated sketches of character. one of them, that of Mr. Openshaw, as new to fiction as it is true to life. To what artist we are indebted for the sketch few readers can fail to discover. It is entirely worthy of her reputation. We have a foil to its pathos in the humors of a showman, whose dwarf went into society with eleven thousand pounds won in a lottery, and came out of society again with as much knowledge of life as that sum purchased. In delicate and simple verse there is a story told—in verse that might be read aloud by cottage firesides, and come home to all hearts in the fireside circle—of a woman's heart first sacrificing and then sacrificed, but ever pure and true.

"A House to Let" is a short story by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell and Adelaide Anne Procter. It was originally published in 1858 in the Christmas edition of Dickens' Household Words magazine. Each of the contributors wrote a chapter and the story was edited by Dickens. "A House to Let" was the first collaboration between the four writers, although Collins and Dickens had worked with Procter on previous Christmas stories for the magazine in 1854, 1855, and 1856. In a letter to Collins from 6 September 1858, Dickens outlined his idea for a Christmas story. He originally envisioned the story being written by himself and Collins with his plot outline fleshed out by Collins, but was later to invite Gaskell and Procter to contribute chapters. Dickens and Collins wrote the first chapter, "Over the Way", and the last chapter "Let at Last" together, and each of the writers wrote one of the intervening chapters: Gaskell "The Manchester Marriage", Dickens "Going into Society", Procter "Three Evenings in the House" and Collins "Trottle's Report". The plot concerns an elderly woman, Sophonisba, who notices signs of life in a supposedly empty dilapidated house (the eponymous "House to Let") opposite her own and employs the efforts of an elderly admirer, Jabez Jarber, and her servant, Trottle, to discover what is happening within. A dramatisation of "A House to Let" was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 during the week of 11-15 December 2006. It was repeated on Radio Four Extra during the week 26-30 December 2011.

Compiled by Charles Dickens, and including chapters by Elizabeth Gaskell, Wilkie Collins and Adelaide Anne Procter, A House to Let is a composite tale of mystery and intrigue set amid the dark streets of Victorian London. Advised by her doctor to have a change of scenery, the elderly Sophonisba takes up lodgings in London. Immediately intrigued by a nearby “house to let,” she charges her two warring attendants, Trottle and Jarber, to unearth the secret behind its seeming desertedness. Rivals to the end, they each seek to outdo the other to satisfy their mistress’ curiosity; however, it is only after repeated false starts—and by way of elaborate tales of men lost at sea, circus performers, and forged death certificates—that they happen upon the truth. Charles Dickens is one of England’s most important literary figures. His works enjoyed enormous success in his day and are still among the most popular and widely read classics of all time.

"A house to let" was first published in the special Christmas issue of 1858 of the Household Words magazine, of which the writer was director.Dickens requested the collaboration of three authors who wrote regularly in the magazine, Adelaide Anne Procter, Elizabet Gaskell and Wilkie Collins. The object of such literary diversity was the publication of a number of the Household Words magazine dedicated to a central theme that became the focus of the contributions of all these authors.A house for rent revolves around a mysterious building that Sophonisba, the old woman who tells (or begins and ends up telling) the story, watches from her window. That house for rent is dark and desolate, and nobody seems to inhabit it; urged by curiosity, he will ask for the help of his butler, Trottle, and his best friend, Jabez Jarber, to find out why the current state of the building and what lies behind its walls. Six different texts will form the puzzle and shed light on that dark house in perpetual rent.

"A House to Let" is a short story by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell and Adelaide Anne Procter. It was originally published in 1858 in the Christmas edition of Dickens' Household Words magazine. Collins wrote the introduction and collaborated with Dickens on the second story and ending, while Gaskell and Proctor wrote the remainder.

"A House to Let" is a short story by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell and Adelaide Anne Procter. It was originally published in 1858 in the Christmas edition of Dickens' Household Words magazine. Collins wrote the introduction and collaborated with Dickens on the second story and ending, while Gaskell and Proctor wrote the remainder.

*This Book is annotated (it contains a detailed biography of the author). *An active Table of Contents has been added by the publisher for a better customer experience. *This book has been checked and corrected for spelling errors. "A House to Let" is a short story by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell and Adelaide Anne Procter. It was originally published in 1858 in the Christmas edition of Dickens' Household Words magazine. Collins wrote the introduction and collaborated with Dickens on the second story and ending, while Gaskell and Proctor wrote the remainder.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.