Following the bumbling Pickwickians along the highways and byways of old England, he creates a vivid world of highwaymen, duels, lawsuits, jails, hilarious romantic imbroglios--but a world, too.

This tale of Paul Dombey, his son (also named Paul) and his daughter Florence was first published in installments, between 1846 and 1848. Though called Dombey and Son, the story is as much about Mr. Dombey's relationship with Florence, the damage done to it by Dombey's pursuit of worldly success and accomplishment, and their eventual reconciliation. Dombey and Son is one of Dickens' richest novels, with vividly drawn characters and biting social commentary. This is a free digital copy of a book that has been carefully scanned by Google as part of a project to make the world's books discoverable online. To make this print edition available as an ebook, we have extracted the text using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology and submitted it to a review process to ensure its accuracy and legibility across different screen sizes and devices. Google is proud to partner with libraries to make this book available to readers everywhere.

Wealthy shipping merchant Paul Dombey runs his family like he runs his business, with coldness and calculation. When his wife dies giving birth to their second child and long hoped-for heir, Dombey remains preoccupied only with the importance of passing the firm along to his son. Lost in this narrow, obsessive view is Dombey's older child, Florence, who yearns for his attention but receives only an indifference that eventually curdles into outright hatred. Published midway through the author's career, this 1848 novel marked a new maturity in Charles Dickens' writing. Less an examination of socioeconomic conditions and more of an exploration of emotional deprivation and fulfillment, it offers the satirical indignation of the storyteller's early fiction with an added darkness and narrative complexity. An absorbing plot and memorable characters combine to form a compelling tale of greed, poor judgment, and the redemptive power of love.