The Old Curiosity Shop — Charles Dickens | Coleman’s Notes Student Guide | CN-SG050

Explore innocence, obsession, greed and survival in one of Charles Dickens’s most emotionally powerful early novels.

At the centre of The Old Curiosity Shop is Little Nell Trent, who lives with her grandfather in his mysterious London shop. His desperate attempts to secure Nell’s future through gambling instead lead them towards financial ruin and into the hands of the grotesque and calculating Daniel Quilp.

Forced to leave their home, Nell and her grandfather begin a journey through Victorian England populated by travelling entertainers, schoolmasters, labourers, eccentrics and villains.

This comprehensive Coleman’s Notes® Student Guide helps readers navigate Dickens’s extensive story while exploring its characters, themes, imagery, social context and distinctive mixture of comedy and tragedy.

Inside the guide

✓ Clear plot coverage and structure
✓ Detailed character studies
✓ Little Nell and her significance
✓ Nell’s grandfather and destructive obsession
✓ Daniel Quilp as villain and grotesque
✓ Kit Nubbles and loyalty
✓ Dick Swiveller and his development
✓ The Marchioness
✓ Major themes and ideas
✓ Childhood, innocence and vulnerability
✓ Gambling, obsession and self-deception
✓ Money, greed and exploitation
✓ Family and responsibility
✓ Poverty and Victorian society
✓ Journeys, home and displacement
✓ Death, loss and sentiment
✓ Dickens’s comedy and grotesque characters
✓ Language, imagery and narrative technique
✓ Historical and social context
✓ Key quotations and analysis
✓ Revision and discussion material
✓ Support for developing stronger literary responses

Beyond the story of Little Nell

Although the fate of Nell became one of the most famous episodes in nineteenth-century fiction, The Old Curiosity Shop offers considerably more than Victorian sentiment.

Dickens contrasts innocence with corruption, generosity with greed, and genuine human relationships with the destructive pursuit of money. Nell’s journey also allows him to present a broad panorama of Victorian life beyond the confines of the curiosity shop.

Ideal for students, teachers, tutors and independent readers seeking a structured introduction to this fascinating Dickens novel.

CN-SG050 | Digital Student Guide | £6.95

Also available in Charles Dickens Collection — Volume 2, containing five complete Coleman’s Notes® Student Guides for £29.95.

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Digital product — available for immediate download after purchase.