Paul Scofield

Who will inherit the riches of wealthy old Martin Chuzzlewit? The only person he trusts is his companion and nurse, the young orphan Mary Graham, but she is employed on the understanding that she will not inherit a penny. He has disinherited his grandson, Young Martin, suspicious of the motives of the young man's love for Mary. With such a fortune at stake, the rest of the family closes in like sharks. The obsequious Pecksniff, whit his daughters,...

When his father suddenly dies, Nicholas Nickleby is sent by his uncle to Dotheboys Hall to work as a teacher, but when Nicholas discovers that the headmaster, Wackford Squeers, maliciously bullies the students, he must decide whether to stay, or leave and allow his uncle to cut off support for his family.

An abridged version of Dicken's story of the orphan forced to practice thievery and live a life of crime in nineteenth-century London. Illustrated notes throughout the text explain the historical background of the story.