Bleak House

Bleak House is a novel by Charles Dickens, published in 20 monthly instalments between March 1852 and September 1853. It is held to be one of Dickens's finest novels, containing one of the most vast, complex and engaging arrays of minor characters and sub-plots in his entire canon.

The story is told partly by the novel's heroine, Esther Summerson, and partly by an omniscient narrator. Follow Dickens's brilliant and sweeping narrative of the case over an orphan child, which consumes the minds and spirits everyone involved. Unforgettable characters include and the childish and imprudent Harold Skimpole, the friendly yet depressive John Jarndyce, Lady and Sir Dedlock, and the cold and indifferent lawyer Tulkinghorn, who represents the iron will of the law.

Memorable characters include the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn, the friendly, but depressive John Jarndyce, and the childish and disingenuous Harold Skimpole, as well as the likeable but imprudent Richard Carstone.