Scathing in its indictment of a cruel society, and pervaded by an unforgettable sense of threat and mystery, this novel is peopled with some of memorable characters (the arch-villain Fagin, the artful Dodger, the menacing Bill Sikes and the prostitute Nancy). It combines the elements of Gothic Romance, the Newgate Novel and popular melodrama.

Adrift in a dinghy, Edward Prendick, the single survivor from the ship Lady Vain, is rescued by a vessel carrying a menagerie of savage animals. Tended to recovery by their keeper Montgomery, who gives him medicine that tastes of blood, Prendick soon finds himself stranded upon an uncharted island in the Pacific with his rescuer and the beasts.

Yuri Zhivago, physician and poet, wrestles with the new order and confronts the changes cruel experience has made in him and the anguish of being torn between the love of two women. This novel talks about Russia in the throes of revolution, offering a love story.

This is the novel Dickens regarded as his favourite child and is considered his most autobiographical. As David recounts his experience from childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist, Dickens draws openly and revealingly on his own life.