The Old Curiosity Shop

'His characters are marvellous, his insights wonderful ... You don't expect reality but you get something bigger and better' Ruth Rendell The Old Curiosity Shop was an instant bestseller that, even while it was criticized for its sentimentality, captured the hearts of the nation with its portrayal of little Nell Trent, who is thrown into a terrifying world when her beloved grandfather is unable to pay his debts to the loathsome Quilp. Alongside the pathos of the innocent, tragic Nell are some of Dickens's greatest characters: the ne'er-do'well Dick Swiveller, the mannish lawyer Sally Brass, the half-starved 'Marchioness' and the lustful Quilp himself, a creation of demonic power and cruelty. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Norman Page

Little Nell Trent lives in the quiet gloom of the old curiosity shop with her ailing grandfather, for whom she cares with selfl ess devotion. But when they are unable to pay their debts to the lecherous and demonic money-lender Daniel Quilp, the shop is seized and they are forced to fl ee, thrown into a shadowy world in which there seems to be no safe haven. The Old Curiosity Shop an instant bestseller that captured the hearts of the nation.

Phiz - real name Hablot Knight Browne - worked together with Charles Dickens for over 20 years, illustrating some of the best known characters in English literature. This book profiles the life of Phiz, which was as rich and colourful as any of Dickens' own creations.

This eBook edition of "The Old Curiosity Shop" has been formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. The Old Curiosity Shop tells the story of Nell Trent, a beautiful and virtuous young girl of "not quite fourteen". An orphan, she lives with her grandfather in his shop of odds and ends. Secretly obsessed with ensuring that Nell does not die in poverty, grandfather attempts to provide Nell with a good inheritance through gambling at cards. He keeps his nocturnal games a secret, but borrows heavily from the evil Daniel Quilp, a malicious, grotesquely deformed, hunchbacked dwarf moneylender. In the end, he gambles away what little money they have, and Quilp seizes the opportunity to take possession of the shop and evict Nell and her grandfather. Grandfather suffers a breakdown that leaves him bereft of his wits, and Nell takes him away to the Midlands of England, to live as beggars.

The Old Curiosity Shop tells the story of Nell Trent, a beautiful and virtuous young girl of "not quite fourteen". An orphan, she lives with her grandfather in his shop of odds and ends. Secretly obsessed with ensuring that Nell does not die in poverty, grandfather attempts to provide Nell with a good inheritance through gambling at cards. He keeps his nocturnal games a secret, but borrows heavily from the evil Daniel Quilp, a malicious, grotesquely deformed, hunchbacked dwarf moneylender. In the end, he gambles away what little money they have, and Quilp seizes the opportunity to take possession of the shop and evict Nell and her grandfather. Grandfather suffers a breakdown that leaves him bereft of his wits, and Nell takes him away to the Midlands of England, to live as beggars.