The beautiful Nell is a thirteen-year-old orphan who lives with her grandfather in a London
bric-a-brac shop. Worried about his charge's future the old man secretly gambles at night in
order to provide an inheritance for her but finally loses the little he has and is evicted
from the shop by the evil hunchback and loan shark Daniel Quilp suffering a breakdown as a
result. Forced to leave the city the young girl is left to take care of her grandfather and
protect herself from the scheming villains who are hot on their heels. Dickens's fourth novel
initially serialized in his magazine Master Humprey's Clock between 1840 and 1841 The Old
Curiosity Shop proved to be a huge hit on publication and is still regarded as one of its
author's major works featuring one of his best-loved and most memorable heroines.
