Bleak House

First published in monthly parts from March, 1852, to September, 1853, this novel follows the fortunes of three pedestrian charactersEsther Summerson, Ada Clare and Richard Carstone. The story they tell embodies Dickens’ merciless indictment of the Court of Chancery and its bungling, morally corrupt handling of the endless case of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce, giving the novel its scope and meaning. Starting with Esther’s account of her lonely, unhappy childhood, her role as protégée of the worthy John…