Charles Dickens was born in 1812 near Portsmouth where his father was a clerk in the navy pay office. The family moved to London in 1823, but their fortunes were severely impaired and Dickens' father was imprisoned for debt. Dickens himself was sent to work in a blacking-warehouse, an experience which deeply affected him. In 1833 he began contributing stories ... Read moreto newspapers and magazines, and in 1836 started the serial publication of Pickwick Papers. Thereafter, Dickens published his major novels over the course of the next twenty years, from Nicholas Nickleby to Little Dorrit. He also edited the journals Household Words and All the Year Round. Dickens died in 1870, aged fifty-eight. Show Less