Born in 1812, Charles Dickens' childhood was unsettled and his learning, unsteady. As a youngster, he had to undertake a number of humiliatingly menial jobs before he built up a career as a journalist. With Pickwick Papers he rose to fame and success. The years to follow witnessed a prolific output of his successful writings. His life and career were amazingly eventful and after a frenzied life of fifty-eight years, he died in 1870.
Originally published as a serial, David Copperfield was Dickens' favourite novel, a preference millions of his readers have endorsed.