Absolutely a delight, and almost a five star novel, but it is not quite David Copperfield, so I have to mark it 4.5 stars, or maybe you know, 4.9. This is a wonderful story absolutely brimming with humanity, which is almost the whole nine yards of what makes Dickens so special, allied of course, with his exceptional talent for comedy and character.

I don't know but something around the premise of this story was a bit off for me, it didn't have the usual ease and flow, certainly at the start, but it soon settled in. Maybe there was something personal in it because of Dickens' father and their personal family history.

The treatment of Mr Dorrit was utterly brilliant, such a thin-skinned, vainglorious man, and such an example of human failing, not to mention a real admonition that we should never forget where we came from! Wonderful, I shall continue to read Dickens because he is like an avatar of human decency and I find his sentiments strangely pertinent to our world today where everyone is so hard-minded and judgemental. Sadly, those who could really benefit from Mr Dickens' genius are perhaps the least likely to expose themselves to it.