Though today regarded as the literary titan of the Victorian age, in late 1843, the 31-year-old Charles Dickens worried that his popularity was fading. His latest novel was not selling well, his finances were strained, and his wife was pregnant with their fifth child.
Dickens had recently visited the industrial city of Manchester, an experience that left him deeply moved by the plight of the poor. He understood their circumstances on a personal level – as a boy, Dickens had been humiliated when his father was forced into debtors’ prison.
