David Copperfield

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. In the heart of Blunderstone, England, David Copperfield's idyllic life with his loving mother is shattered by the arrival of his tyrannical stepfather, who sends him to a boarding school under a ruthless headmaster, Mr. Creakle. David courageously endures the wretched education at Salem House, copes with the death of his mother, labours at Murdstone and Grinby's and ultimately makes a desperate escape to his aunt's. Originally serialised from May 1849 to November 1850, David Copperfield, partly autobiographical in nature, takes the reader on a coming-of-age journey of a young man, from his tragic childhood to his successful career as a novelist, as he meets a cast of dynamic characters including the verbose Mr. Micawber, the villainous Uriah Heep and the eccentric Betsey Trotwood. Dickens revealingly draws from his own experiences, creating one of the most exuberant and enduringly popular works, filled with tragedy and comedy in equal measure. Read more