Book Bearings
The Old Curiosity Shop
- 563 pages · about 9 hours
- First published 1840
- 825 editions
- Free to read
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1 About this book
The Old Curiosity Shop is the fourth novel by English author Charles Dickens; being one of his two novels (the other being Barnaby Rudge) published along with short stories in his weekly serial Master Humphrey's Clock, from 1840 to 1841. It was so popular that New York readers reputedly stormed the wharf when the ship bearing the final instalment arrived in 1841.
The Old Curiosity Shop was printed in book form in 1841 in two volumes. Queen Victoria read the novel that year and found it "very interesting and cleverly written".
The plot follows the journey of Nell Trent and her grandfather, both residents of The Old Curiosity Shop in London, whose lives are thrown into disarray and destitution due to the machinations of an evil moneylender and the grandfather's gambling addiction.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Good for readers who want: a classic and a long read.
- Loss (Psychology)
- Classics
- Family life
- Domestic fiction
- Girls
- Grandfathers
- Antique dealers
- Grandparent and child
2 Read it free, right here
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Read it on the Internet Archive3 About Charles Dickens
Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
4 More by Charles Dickens
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