Bleak House

Bleak house is Charles Dickens's ninth novel, published between 1852 and 1853 in twenty monthly installments. It is considered one of his finest, containing a massive assemblage of minutely portrayed supporting characters, and a labyrinthine array of sub-plots. Bleak House focuses on the unimaginably drawn out trial of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, a case presided over by the Court of Chancery, a body which deals in matters of trusts and guardianship of infants. Characters have grown old, been born into, married into, and been divorced from various plaintiffs and defendants in the case, which has been dragged out so long as to consume sixty odd thousand pounds in court costs.

The story is told partly from the perspective of novel's heroine, the strong and sensitive Esther Summerson, and partly from an omniscient third-person narrator. Follow Dickens's brilliant and sweeping narrative of the case over an orphan child, which consumes the minds and spirits everyone involved. Unforgettable characters include and the childish and imprudent Harold Skimpole, the friendly yet depressive John Jarndyce, Lady and Sir Dedlock, and the cold and indifferent lawyer Tulkinghorn, who represents the iron will of the law. Along with many others, this cast of brilliantly portrayed characters are weaved into the complex and sinister plot, which is guaranteed to captivate readers throughout.