The Old Curiosity Shop tells the story of Nell Trent, a beautiful and virtuous young girl of "not quite fourteen". An orphan, she lives with her maternal grandfather (whose name is never revealed) in his shop of odds and ends. Her grandfather loves her dearly, and Nell does not complain, but she lives a lonely existence with almost no friends her own age. Her only friend is Kit, an honest boy employed at the shop, whom she is teaching to write. Secretly obsessed with ensuring that Nell does not die in poverty as her parents ...
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The Old Curiosity Shop tells the story of Nell Trent, a beautiful and virtuous young girl of "not quite fourteen". An orphan, she lives with her maternal grandfather (whose name is never revealed) in his shop of odds and ends. Her grandfather loves her dearly, and Nell does not complain, but she lives a lonely existence with almost no friends her own age. Her only friend is Kit, an honest boy employed at the shop, whom she is teaching to write. Secretly obsessed with ensuring that Nell does not die in poverty as her parents did, her grandfather attempts to provide Nell with a good inheritance through gambling at cards. He keeps his nocturnal games a secret, but borrows heavily from the evil Daniel Quilp, a malicious, grotesquely deformed, hunchbacked dwarf moneylender. In the end, he gambles away what little money they have, and Quilp seizes the opportunity to take possession of the shop and evict Nell and her grandfather.
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Add this copy of The Old Curiosity Shop to cart. $14.78, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by Simon & Brown.
Add this copy of The Old Curiosity Shop (Hardback Or Cased Book) to cart. $36.89, new condition, Sold by BargainBookStores rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Grand Rapids, MI, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by Simon & Brown.
Add this copy of The Old Curiosity Shop to cart. $52.91, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hialeah, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by Simon & Brown.
HAVING REaD THE BOOK BEFORE THE STORY WAS FAMILIAR, my reading again because of having seen a recent drama series of it; I found it boringly focussed (too much time of story on this), on the wanderings of g-father and young girl Nell. In my opinion Dickens liked to write, to picture poor young girls, 10-16 year olds, in poor circumstances bravely trying to cope with life, in this story ending that part of book on death of the g-father and girl. In other parts of the novel Dickens pictures a dreadful, ugly dwarf, for a time manipulating characters to his wishes, later getting his just punishment by an accidental death; an odd delopment of story is the character D. Swiveller, who first appears as a selfish, odd-ball man easily taken advantage of by others, later becoming a near hero of the story. I'm inclined not to ever read the book again, opinion that it's inferior to some, maybe most of Dickens' other novels.
