The Old Curiosity Shop
Old Curiosity Shop, The,a novel by Dickens , published as a separate volume in 1841 . It was originally intended to be fitted into the framework of Master Humphrey's Clock ( 1840 – 1 ), and Master Humphrey is, in fact, the narrator of the first few chapters, but this idea was soon abandoned.
Little Nell Trent lives in the gloomy atmosphere of the old curiosity shop kept by her grandfather, whom she tends with devotion. Reduced to poverty by a spendthrift son-in-law, and his remaining means drained by Nell's profligate brother Fred, he has borrowed money from Daniel Quilp, a hideous dwarf and a monster of iniquity, and this money he secretly expends in gambling, in the vain hope of retrieving his fortunes, for Little Nell's sake. Quilp, who believes him a rich miser, at last discovers where the borrowed money has gone, and seizes the shop. The old man and the child flee and wander about the country, suffering great...
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