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Little Dorrit

Name: Little Dorrit
Author: Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens · Public domain text

336,958 words · about 23 h 36 min to read

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About this edition

The text of Little Dorrit comes from Project Gutenberg e-text #963. It is in English and public domain in the United States. Project Gutenberg’s header and license text are removed, and RedLectern sets the text out for reading on screen; no words of the book are rewritten or summarized. More formats (EPUB, Kindle) · How RedLectern is built

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About this book

From Wikipedia

Little Dorrit is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, originally published in serial form between 1855 and 1857. The story features Amy Dorrit, youngest child of her family, born and raised in the Marshalsea prison for debtors in London. Arthur Clennam encounters her after returning home from a 20-year absence, ready to begin his life anew.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article “Little Dorrit” (revision 1374845565), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Not written by RedLectern.

Author: Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
Language: English
Subjects: London (England) › Fiction, Inheritance and succession › Fiction, Love stories, Domestic fiction, Fathers and daughters › Fiction, Children of prisoners › Fiction
Length: 336,958 words · about 23 h 36 min
Sections: 71 reader sections · Table of contents
Audiobook: Listen free (LibriVox)
Source: Project Gutenberg #963

Contents (71)

Opening about 4 min
1. Sun and Shadow about 23 min
2. Fellow Travellers about 22 min
3. Home about 23 min
4. Mrs Flintwinch has a Dream about 5 min
5. Family Affairs about 20 min
6. The Father of the Marshalsea about 18 min
7. The Child of the Marshalsea about 18 min
8. The Lock about 19 min
9. Little Mother about 24 min
10. Containing the whole Science of Government about 34 min
11. Let Loose about 17 min
12. Bleeding Heart Yard about 16 min
13. Patriarchal about 40 min
14. Little Dorrit’s Party about 21 min
15. Mrs Flintwinch has another Dream about 16 min
16. Nobody’s Weakness about 24 min
17. Nobody’s Rival about 16 min
18. Little Dorrit’s Lover about 17 min
19. The Father of the Marshalsea in two or three Relations about 20 min
20. Moving in Society about 24 min
21. Mr Merdle’s Complaint about 15 min
22. A Puzzle about 16 min
23. Machinery in Motion about 28 min
24. Fortune-Telling about 28 min
25. Conspirators and Others about 18 min
26. Nobody’s State of Mind about 22 min
27. Five-and-Twenty about 22 min
28. Nobody’s Disappearance about 13 min
29. Mrs Flintwinch goes on Dreaming about 14 min
30. The Word of a Gentleman about 27 min
31. Spirit about 27 min
32. More Fortune-Telling about 16 min
33. Mrs Merdle’s Complaint about 17 min
34. A Shoal of Barnacles about 17 min
35. What was behind Mr Pancks on Little Dorrit’s Hand about 23 min
36. The Marshalsea becomes an Orphan about 13 min
1. Fellow Travellers about 27 min
2. Mrs General about 7 min
3. On the Road about 28 min
4. A Letter from Little Dorrit about 7 min
5. Something Wrong Somewhere about 26 min
6. Something Right Somewhere about 26 min
7. Mostly, Prunes and Prism about 20 min
8. The Dowager Mrs Gowan is reminded that ‘It Never Does’ about 20 min
9. Appearance and Disappearance about 27 min
10. The Dreams of Mrs Flintwinch thicken about 13 min
11. A Letter from Little Dorrit about 11 min
12. In which a Great Patriotic Conference is holden about 26 min
13. The Progress of an Epidemic about 26 min
14. Taking Advice about 19 min
15. No just Cause or Impediment why these Two Persons should not be joined together about 28 min
16. Getting on about 12 min
17. Missing about 17 min
18. A Castle in the Air about 11 min
19. The Storming of the Castle in the Air about 27 min
20. Introduces the next about 17 min
21. The History of a Self-Tormentor about 17 min
22. Who passes by this Road so late? about 11 min
23. Mistress Affery makes a Conditional Promise, respecting her Dreams about 22 min
24. The Evening of a Long Day about 17 min
25. The Chief Butler Resigns the Seals of Office about 16 min
26. Reaping the Whirlwind about 15 min
27. The Pupil of the Marshalsea about 26 min
28. An Appearance in the Marshalsea about 31 min
29. A Plea in the Marshalsea about 16 min
30. Closing in about 44 min
31. Closed about 16 min
32. Going about 13 min
33. Going! about 19 min
34. Gone about 21 min

The opening of 1. Sun and Shadow

Thirty years ago, Marseilles lay burning in the sun, one day.
A blazing sun upon a fierce August day was no greater rarity in southern France then, than at any other time, before or since. Everything in Marseilles, and about Marseilles, had stared at the fervid sky, and been stared at in return, until a staring habit had become universal there. Strangers were stared out of countenance by staring white houses, staring white walls, staring white streets, staring tracts of arid road, staring hills from which verdure was burnt away. The only things to be seen not fixedly staring and glaring were the vines drooping under their load of grapes. These did occasionally wink a little, as the hot air barely moved their faint leaves.

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