Dombey and Son

“What was a girl to Dombey and Son!”

Despite its intransigently masculine title, Dombey and Son is the one Dickens novel—apart from Bleak House—with a heroine, Florence Dombey. And Florence, made courageous by the death of her mother and the neglect of her proud, rich father, is an altogether sprightlier protagonist than dutiful, grateful Esther Summerson.

Charles Dickens’ first great novel.