Esther Summerson goes to live with her guardian, Mr. Jarndyce, and two other young wards, who are his cousins. The Jarndyce family are involved in a lengthy court case disputing a will that has lagged on for generations, bringing nothing but debt and heartache to all involved. Mr. Jarndyce hopes to repair some of the emotional damage in his family by bringing his young cousins, Ada and Richard, into his own home and providing for them.
Esther herself is completely ignorant of her biological family, and is thrown into the mystery of her parentage, when a certain lawyer begins investigating the death of a man who may have been connected to the secretive Lady Dedlock. Esther must discover the truth about her mother and father before the lawyer can publicly humiliate them all.

This has always been one of my favorite Dickens books, and re-reading it several times just confirms this book as a forever favorite!

Dickens has such a powerful writing style that every scene transports you to another time and place. Each character has such an emotional pull that it is impossible to read with dry eyes. The writing is so funny that I actually laughed out loud in some scenes! There are clever puns and witty little lines that are a complete delight, and make me forgive Dickens for being so long-winded at times. Even his lengthy descriptions are so vibrant and full of fun that it is well worth taking the time to read, even if it does slow down the plot.

One of the things that is interesting about this particular book is that it is told partly in first-person from Esther's POV, and partly in third-person with an omniscient narrator. This jumping back and forth between writing styles in different chapters could be jarring and unnatural, but Dickens makes it work really well.

Esther is perfect and sweet and eternally good. She is in danger of being too perfect for anyone to like her, but she does struggle and suffer like a regular human being so that the reader is able to relate to her strongly. She cries and grieves. She has to push herself to rise above her disappointments and difficult circumstances. I think it's very telling that she is perpetually singing the praises of other people, but she won't acknowledge her own good qualities. She is an illegitimate child, and her early upbringing has taught her to belittle herself and have low self-esteem. I really admire Esther's patient endurance and the complexity of her personality. Through the story, she has strong character development and eventually begins to find some contentment in recognizing that she is worthy of love.

Mr. Jarndyce is an eccentric character. He is exceedingly generous and kind, but he hates to be thanked and will literally run out of the room if someone tries to thank him. When he doesn't like a situation, he will say that "the wind is in the east" and retire to his private study called the Growlery, where he presumably "growls" though no one has ever heard an unpleasant word fall from his lips.

Ada and Richard are the perfect romantic young couple. They are both of them beautiful/handsome and intelligent and elegant. But of course there are obstacles in their path, and sorrow must come to blight their beloved hopes. On the surface, they both appear to be sort of shallow and simple characters, but as the story unfolds, we get to see hidden depths of strengths and weaknesses in them. Their relationship is complex and always changing.

As Esther and the Jarndyce family navigate the terrible court case that entangles their destinies, they meet a whole cast of memorable characters. Every single supporting character is beautifully written and incredibly complex and varied.

Lady Dedlock is so very secretive and dignified, but underneath she is a seething volcano of emotional damage. She keeps it all locked inside, hidden under her calm exterior.

Mrs. Jellyby's daugher, Caddy, is sick and tired of the messy Jellyby household. Her mother is so busy campaigning to help poor people in Africa that she has no time to manage her own children or make sure they have a decent dinner. Caddy meets Esther and wishes she could be more capable and educated like Esther is.

Mr. George becomes the linchpin of the mystery of the dead man, when it becomes known that he has some letters in his possession written by the deceased. But he has his own troubles trying to keep his business afloat and pay his debts. His gruff manner hides a gentle heart, and he looks to his friends to support him in choosing the right road.

Poor Jo, the street sweeper, is a sad pathetic figure. Totally uneducated, living on the streets and half-starved, Jo is oddly enough the central figure that brings the plot into focus. He comes into contact with the different groups of characters as they try to help him, reform him, or ignore him. He becomes a connecting thread that each group must cope with in some way.

Mr. Bucket is the detective, hired by different people throughout the story, who uncovers the truth and brings light into the mystery. Mr. Bucket has a very high sense of integrity and he will do his duty to the utmost, but he'll try to be pleasant about it and not irritate good people more than he can help. I love how intelligent and imaginative he is! He really thinks things through, and figures out the clues in a most spectacular way.

What's truly incredible is the way that a massive list of supporting characters are all connected in some way, and they all have their part to play in Esther's story. No one can write a whirling story with dozens of groups of people all linked and combined in different ways and bring those threads all together for a satisfactory ending like Dickens can. It's this whole tapestry of characters and connections, and they all have some secret to hide.

This book is all about secrets and the consequences that come when the truth is revealed or hidden. Through the entire plot, each person is trying to find out a secret or hide a secret. Sometimes they are guessing at someone else's secret and they completely misunderstand and come to the wrong conclusion. Sometimes they guess right and find the proof. Sometimes the secrets they hide fester and come between people and make them bitter. But in the end, the truth is always known.

Dickens covers so many different themes in this book. He is well-known for his constant commentary on social justice, painting deeply pathetic pictures of the poor in need of help. In this book, he attacks the injustices and foolishness of the courts of Chancery, and the lawyers and judges who made their money in hopeless lawsuits, bleeding their clients dry.

I love the deep themes of family loyalty and generosity in this book. There are so many great storylines that follow broken families being reunited, happy families going through tough times together, found family, and biological family, and adopted family.

This entire book is complete genius from start to finish, and I adore every word of it!