Little Dorrit

Little Dorrit, published serially by Charles Dickens from 1855 to 1857, centers on Amy Dorrit, known as Little Dorrit, who is born and raised in London’s Marshalsea debtors’ prison, where her father William has languished for over two decades due to unpaid debts. Devoted to her dysfunctional family—including her vain sister Fanny and reckless brother Tip—Little Dorrit supports them through her needlework while maintaining her father’s dignity as the self-styled Father of the Marshalsea. The narrative expands when Arthur Clennam, returning from abroad, takes an interest in her plight, uncovers family secrets tied to imprisonment and hidden legacies, and navigates a web of social hypocrisy, bureaucratic Circumlocution Office absurdities, and financial ruin that critiques Victorian society’s class rigidities and debtor system.