The Old Curiosity Shop

The saintly child Little Nell and her broken grandfather flee across England to escape the malevolent, gloating dwarf Quilp, one of Dickens’s most memorable villains, in a story that gripped the reading public on both sides of the Atlantic. As the pair wander through a landscape of poverty, kindness, and menace, the novel builds to a famously heart-rending conclusion that reportedly reduced Victorian readers to tears. Blending fairy-tale terror, comedy, and sentiment, The Old Curiosity Shop is a vivid early Dickens novel about innocence pursued by greed and cruelty. Its unforgettable characters and emotional power made it one of the most beloved works of its day.