Originally published as a 20-episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853, Bleak House is a novel by English author Charles Dickens. The story centres around Esther Summerson, the novel’s heroine and omniscient narrator, and a long-running legal case in the Court of Chancery which arises as a result of conflicting wills. Though brimming with arguably exaggerated satire, Bleak House helped further a judicial reform movement which led to legal reform in the 1870s. A classic example of Dickens’s much-celebrated literature not to be missed by fans and collectors of his timeless work. Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was an English writer and social critic famous for having created some of the world’s most well-known fictional characters. His works became unprecedentedly popular during his life, and today he is commonly regarded as the greatest Victorian-era novelist. Although perhaps better known for such works as Oliver Twist or A Christmas Carol , Dickens first gained success with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers , which turned him almost overnight into an international literary celebrity thanks to his humour, satire, and astute observations concerning society and character. This classic work is being republished now in a new edition complete with an introductory chapter from Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens by G. K. Chesterton.