Charles Dickens was born in 1812 and became the most popular novelist of the Victorian era.

A prolific writer, he published more than a dozen novels in his lifetime, including Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and Hard Times, most of which have been adapted many times over for radio, stage and screen.

Acclaimed literary scholar and cultural theorist Terry Eagleton is Professor of Cultural Theory at the National University of Ireland, Galway, Professor of English Literature at Lancaster University, and Distinguished Visiting Professor of English Literature at Notre Dame.

Eagleton is the author of many books including The Idea of Culture, Sweet Violence: The Idea of the Tragic, the bestselling text Literary Theory: An Introduction, Trouble with Strangers: A Study of Ethics and Why Marx Was Right.