'Like Shakespeare, Dickens was able to embrace a whole world' John Mortimer
When Charles Dickens set out for America in 1842, he was the most famous man of his day to make the journey, and embarked on his travels with an intense curiosity. His frank descriptions cover everything from his comically wretched sea voyage to his sheer astonishment at Niagara Falls, while he also visited hospitals, prisons and law courts. But Dickens's depiction of

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She has a powerful voice able to mesmerize the vaudeville audiences, but Annalise Rycroft has spent her whole life afraid she'll be lost to obscurity. During the 1918 flu epidemic she has a feverish experience: characters from her favorite book unlock a hidden part of her past, which involves an absent father and a missing younger brother. As Annalise rises to stardom, a stranger with fears and failing of his own takes center stage in her life. Together...

An old bitter miser who rationalizes his uncaring nature learns real compassion when three spirits visit him on Christmas Eve. Misanthropic miser Ebenezer Scrooge is haunted by his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley. Marley's ghost is followed by three more spirits from Christmases Past, Present and Future.

"1851: a year of political unrest and social inequality, industrial progress and artistic innovation, it is also a turbulent year in the private life of Charles Dickens, as he copes with a double bereavement and a home in danger of falling apart. But this formative year will become perhaps the greatest turning point in his life and writing, as he embraces his calling as a chronicler of ordinary people's lives and establishes himself as an important...

"Expert Victorian-era historian Judith Flanders explores the world portrayed so vividly in Dicken's novels, bringing life on the streets of London to vivid, fascinating life. The nineteenth century was a time of unprecedented transformation, and nowhere was this more apparent than London. In only a few decades, the capitol grew from a Regency town to the biggest city the world had ever seen, with more than 6.5 million people and railways, street-lighting...