Considered by many to be the master of English fiction, Charles Dickens wrote about the world in which he lived — early and mid-Victorian a period of tremendous political England — and soctal turmoil. His novels are passionate and profoundly entertaining depictions Of a society in the midst of cataclysmic change. Both a social critic and social prophet, Dickens, nonetheless. dressed his message in some of the world's most masterful prose. In this collection of three of Dickens's most fascinating and mov- ing works can be found much of what makes their author so memorable today. gloriously vivid characters, a forever-vanished London, penetrating depictions of brutal and frighten- ing social conditions, the twist and turn of a complicated plot.

Master Humphrey's Clock, first published in 1840 as a threepenny weekly, introduces the poignant figure of Master Humphrey. an old and crippled gentleman. who gathers a choice circle of friends around him to form a reading club. Each of the members is pledged to place a manuscript in the case of Master Humphrey's beloved grandfather clock. The tales told tn this series are among some Of Dickens's most charming; while the characters encountered. such as Sam and Old Tony Weller, Gog and Magog, the Old Deaf Gentleman. and Samuel Pickwick himself. are among the most enduring. Published in 1859, Tale of Two Cities reflects the mature Dickens's darker and more complex side. A rale of two cities — Paris and London — in the worst days Of the French Revolution, the novel traces the fates of Dr. Manerte and his daughter Lucie. her husband, the self-exiled Charles Darnay, and the tragic but ennobled figure Of Sydney Carton, the Englishman whose sacrifice makes it possible for his friends and loved ones to live, Against a backdrop Of vengeance and terror. Dickens reminds us Of the value Of mercy and love.

Great Expectations, first published in 1860, is the Story of Philip (Pip) Pirrip — on his eventful journey from poverty to "great expectations" of wealth and social status to near—complete ruin. The talc of Pipes growth from a callow youth Of material ambitions to a young man of Compas- Sion and true worth is both hilarious and chill- ing. Pip, Of course. neither becomes nor recetves anything like what he expected; yet. in true Dickensian fashion, it is the journey he makes, and not the arrival, which matters most.

Indeed. in each Of the works collected here. in the bulk Of Dickens's massrvc body of work, is found this same embrace of the strange, extraordinary. immensely unpredictable nature of people and Of life itself. What makes Charles Dickens, in part, the great novelist he was clear- ly born to be is his remarkable talent for seizing the unseizable whole Of life and distilling from it one more tale to tell.