Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth on February 7, 1812 and died of a stroke on June 9, 1870. He is probably the most well-known author of the Victorian era. He is famous for his novels, inlcuding A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist and Great Expectations as well as his novella A Christmas Carol.

His works continue to be read to this day and many of them have been adapted for stage and screen. Most of his novels were originally published in serial form in magazines, which allowed him to gauge how the public reacted and in some cases alter future installments of the serials.

He was also known as a social reformer, especially for education and children’s rights. But he was careful not to get too far ahead of the values of the middle class, who were the key to his enduring popularity.

Novels

• The Pickwick Papers (1837)
• Oliver Twist (1838)
• Nicholas Nickleby (1839)
• The Old Curiosity Shop (1841)
• Barnaby Rudge (1841) – historical novel
• Martin Chuzzlewit (1844)
• Dombey and Son (1848)
• David Copperfield (1850)
• Bleak House (1853)
• Hard Times (1854)
• Little Dorrit (1857)
• A Tale of Two Cities (1859) – historical novel
• Great Expectations (1861)
• Our Mutual Friend (1865)
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870) – unfinished

Christmas Novellas

• A Christmas Carol (1843)
• The Chimes (1844)
• The Cricket on the Hearth (1845)
• The Battle of Life (1846)
• The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain (1848)