The Old Curiosity Shop

The Old Curiosity Shop was initially published in a weekly serial, "Master Humphrey's Clock", between 1840 and 1841. Nell Trent, the protagonist of this novel, is an overwhelmingly good little girl who is orphaned into the care of her Grandfather, the purveyor of an odds and ends shop. Her grandfather is a benevolent man, yet he hides behind a dark secret; he has been consumed with the habit of gambling; eventually he gambles away his shop to his creditor Daniel Quilp, one of the most heinous of all of Dickens' villains. Nell and her grandfather flee London and, in their pursuit, they encounter a range of characters that are both goodhearted and the embodiment of evil. The Old Curiosity Shop is an insightful tragedy of sorrows that brilliantly paints the range of human intention.