Charles Dickens

One of my favourite writers is Charles Dickens. He was born near Portsmouth on 7-th February 1812. He was the second of eight children. His father was a clerk. The Dickens family, although was not poor by the standards of the time, lived through a series of financial crises.

In 1823 facing financial ruin, the family moved to London, where Charles began work in a blacking warehouse for six shillings a week. At that time his father was arrested for debt. After three months in prison John Dickens was released by having himself declared an Insolvent Debtor.

Charles was sent to school at the age of twelve, where he did well, and at the age of fifteen began work in the office of a legal firm.

After learning short hand he became a freelance reporter. His career was prospering with his rapid and accurate reporting of debates in the House of Commons for the "Morning Chronicle". At that time he began to write novels. "The Pickwick Papers" was Dickens's first novel. It was originally serialised. In a book from it was published in 1837. This book is considered to be Dickens's greatest novel. Charles Dickens wrote a lot of novels. His masterpieces are: "Oliver Twist" (1837-38), "Nicholas Nickleby" (1838-39), "David Copperfield" (1849-50), "Little Dorrit" (1837-38), "Great Expectations" (1860-61).

Charles Dickens wrote about ordinary people, whose life he knew very well. Dickens worked very hard. His health began to fail in the mid-1860s. He suffered a stroke at his home at Gad's Hill, near Rochester, Kent on 8-th June, 1870 and died the next day.