Renowned 19th-century English author whose best known works include Oliver Twist, Bleak House, and A Christmas Carol. He created some of the most memorable characters in fiction, became known for his acute social satire, and is generally considered to be the most significant novelist of the Victorian era. He left school at a young age to work in a factory, due to his father's imprisonment in the debtors' jail. He quickly overcame his family history and, by the time he published his first serial, The Pickwick Papers (in 1836), he was well on his way to international literary fame.
