Oliver Twist. CHARLES DICKENS.
In this book Dickens achieved the dual purpose which he had always before him. He wrote a great story, and he laboured also to redress a great social scandal. In no other, perhaps, except A Tale of Two Cities, is the tragic power which lay behind all his humour apparent in so wonderful a degree.
The Old Curiosity Shop. CHARLES DICKENS.
This book, largely biographical, has always been one of the most popular of the author's works. Humour and pathos are mingled in it, for if we have on the one hand Little Nell, on the other we have "The Marchioness," Mrs. Jarley, and the immortal Codlin and Short.
A Tale of Two Cities. CHARLES DICKENS.
Sidney Carton is almost the only case in which Dickens has drawn a hero on the true heroic scale, and his famous act of self-sacrifice is unmatched in fiction. The book must be ranked very high among the great tragedies in literature.
A Child's History of England. CHARLES DICKENS.
Amongst histories for children this is easily first. It possesses all Dickens's wonderful force, vivacity, and keen insight into human nature, and his characteristic enthusiasm for all that is loyal, manly, and true.
Hard Times. CHARLES DICKENS.
A bitter and scathing satire on the belief in "Facts, nothing but Facts" in education, the results developed in a tale of deep and pathetic interest.