The Old Curiosity Shop

by Charles Dickens

Overview

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 maternal grandfather (whose name is never revealed) in his shop of odds and ends. Her grandfather loves her dearly, and Nell does not complain, but she lives a lonely existence with almost no friends her own age. Her only friend is Kit, an honest boy employed at the shop, whom she is teaching to write. Secretly obsessed with ensuring that Nell does not die in poverty as her parents did, her 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. Her 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.

Convinced that the old man has stored up a large and prosperous fortune for Nell, her wastrel older brother, Frederick, convinces the good-natured but easily led Dick Swiveller to help him track Nell down, so that Swiveller can marry Nell and share her supposed inheritance with Frederick. To this end, they join forces with Quilp, who knows full well that there is no fortune, but sadistically chooses to 'help' them to enjoy the misery it will inflict on all concerned. Quilp begins to try to track Nell down, but the fugitives are not easily discovered. To keep Dick Swiveller under his eye, Quilp arranges for him to be taken as a clerk by Quilp's lawyer, Mr. Brass. At the Brass firm, Dick befriends the mistreated maidservant and nicknames her 'the Marchioness'. Nell, having fallen in with a number of characters, some villainous and some kind, succeeds in leading her grandfather to safety in a far-off village (identified by Dickens as Tong, Shropshire), but this comes at a considerable cost to Nell's health.

Meanwhile, Kit, having lost his job at the curiosity shop, has found new employment with the kind Mr and Mrs Garland. Here he is contacted by a mysterious 'single gentleman' who is looking for news of Nell and her grandfather. The 'single gentleman' and Kit's mother go after them unsuccessfully, and encounter Quilp, who is also hunting for the runaways. Quilp forms a grudge against Kit and has him framed as a thief. Kit is sentenced to transportation. However, Dick Swiveller proves Kit's innocence with the help of his friend the Marchioness. Quilp is hunted down and dies trying to escape his pursuers. At the same time, a coincidence leads Mr Garland to knowledge of Nell's whereabouts, and he, Kit, and the single gentleman (who turns out to be the younger brother of Nell's grandfather) go to find her. Sadly, by the time they arrive, Nell has died as a result of her arduous journey. Her grandfather, already mentally infirm, refuses to admit she is dead and sits every day by her grave waiting for her to come back until, a few months later, he dies himself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781502809261
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	10/19/2014
Pages:	350
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.73(d)
Age Range:	7 - 11 Years

About the Author

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is regarded as one of the greatest authors of the Victorian era. Many of his own life experiences, including child labor, were the basis of his novels. As a young reporter he wrote sketches of everyday life in London. His first serialized novel was The Pickwick Papers (1836), a work that brought him great success. He went on to publish 15 beloved novels, essays, and novellas, including Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and A Christmas Carol. Many of his vivid characters are among the most beloved in English literature

Date of Birth:

February 7, 1812

Date of Death:

June 18, 1870

Place of Birth:

Portsmouth, England

Place of Death:

Gad's Hill, Kent, England

Education:

Home-schooling; attended Dame School at Chatham briefly and Wellington

Table of Contents

	A Dickens Chronology	vii
	Introduction	xi
	Further reading	xxix
	A Note on the Text	xxxi
	The Old Curiosity Shop	1
	Notes	557

Editorial Reviews

Gr 7-12-Dickens story of contrasts: youth and old age, beauty and deformity, freedom and restraint.

School Library Journal

Naxos adds to its collection of some 20 abridged and unabridged Dickens recordings this novel following the lives of orphan Nell Trent and her loving grandfather, both residents of The Old Curiosity Shop in London. Though wildly popular when first published in the early 1840s, this is not among Dickens's best works—it is short on truly memorable characters and flawed by sloppy blending of its complex story lines. Still, narrator Anton Lesser's (Great Expectations) strong performance helps to compensate for these weaknesses. Curiosity Shop is not good as an introduction to the author, but those familiar with his oeuvre will appreciate the added value Lesser's evocative narration brings to the audio edition of this work. [An abridged alternate recording of this title, read by Paul Scofield, is available from Phoenix Audio.—Ed.]—R. Kent Rasmussen, Thousand Oaks, CA

Library Journal

For listeners who shy away from Dickens because of the oppressive length of some of his novels, audio programs like this one are an ideal alternative. THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP is the story of Little Nell, who really isn't that little, and her grandfather, who tries to build a fortune for her by gambling. At about three times the length of a stage play, this dramatization bites off a good chunk of the novel. While the production uses music and sound effects tastefully, the focus is on the acting, and the entire cast is excellent. Phil Daniels is suitably evil sounding in his role as Quilp, the creditor, and narrator Alex Jennings is the ideal scene-setter and guide. D.B. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

JUN/JUL 07 - AudioFile