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Charles Dickens
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Charles Dickens seems to have had a love-hate relationship with the city.
In his early years he experienced the squalor and hardship that the poor had to endure. London's lively streets formed the backdrop to many of his novels and the social injustices influenced his plots.
He was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire in 1812 and moved with his family to London when he was only 2. His father, a Navy clerk, had financial problems and was sent to a debtor’s prison at Marshalsea.
Aged 12, Charles was sent to work in a boot-blacking factory earning six shillings a week to help keep the family.
He was an avid reader and attended school when the family could afford it.
These early years of poverty influenced his writing. He became a reporter, then short-story novelist. |
