One of Dickens's most flamboyant and theatrical novels, Nicholas Nickleby is the story of an impulsive young man who, forced to make his way in the world, encounters human life in all its variety: the tyrannical headmaster Wackford Squeers, the tragic orphan Smike, the ridiculous Mantalinis, the hilarious thespians Mr and Mrs Crummles and theis daighter, 'the infant phenomenon'

Nicholas Nickleby is fired by outrage at cruelty and injustice, but is above all a work filled with riotous, life-affirming comedy.