Little Dorrit grows up in the Marshalsea debtor's prison, where her father has been imprisoned ever since her birth. When Mr Dorrit's debt is excused, he is anxious to forget his inglorious past and be accepted back into the best circles of society. Dickens criticizes the hierarchical society which would demand such an impossible thing of a man, and also questions which class of their acquaintance are good people and true friends. When one of London's

Though he rose to literary fame on the strength of his series of novels set in the fictional rural county of Barsetshire, Anthony Trollope's later works were more concerned with politics and social issues. The novel Phineas Finn is the second in Trollope's series known as the Palliser novels, which focus on political intrigue and relationships among members of Parliament. This volume focuses on Phineas Finn, an immigrant from Ireland who

Although he was overlooked in the early years of his literary career, British novelist George Gissing eventually rose to acclaim, largely on the strength of his unflinching portrayal of the lives of England's less fortunate. Regarded as one of his most accomplished works, The Nether World follows the intertwined fates of three impoverished families, all tied together through central figure Sidney Kirkwood.