They don't write them like this any more. A magnificent brooding evocation of London in the middle of the 19th century, disfigured by a pitiless class system, murderous capitalism and a religion that sinks the heart. No-one, not even the most humane and idealistic, is able to escape the clutches of one or other of these evils. All are tainted. That such a sombre novel is also able to be supremely comic might seem a mystery, but isn't: it is laughter that gives us the courage to look into the abyss. -- Howard Jacobson - Kirkus UK

Though Little Dorrit is one of Dickens's less well-known works, it has all his hallmarks - Sunday Telegraph

Charles Dickens was born in Hampshire on February 7, 1812. His father was a clerk in the navy pay office, who was well paid but often ended up in financial troubles. When Dickens was twelve years old he was send to work in a shoe polish factory because his family had been taken to the debtors' prison. Fagin is named after a boy Dickens disliked at the factory. His career as a writer of fiction started in 1833 when his short stories and essays began to appear in periodicals. The Pickwick Papers, his first commercial success, was published in 1836. In the same year he married the daughter of his friend George Hogarth, Catherine Hogarth. The serialisation of Oliver Twist began in 1837 while The Pickwick Papers was still running. Many other novels followed and The Old Curiosity Shop brought Dickens international fame and he became a celebrity in America as well as Britain. He separated from his wife in 1858. Charles Dickens died on 9 June 1870, leaving his last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.