Bleak House continued Dickens' successful string of fiction, following David Copperfield and preceding Hard Times, and went through several printings. Beyond the popular success of its own day, Bleak House has developed a reputation as one of Dickens' most impressive achievements as a novelist. Many fellow writers, such as G.K. Chesterton and, much later, Vladimir Nabokov, consider the book to be Dickens' best, the one in which the classic traits and concerns of a Dickens novel -- likable characters, gripping storylines, social activism, humor, panache, grotesquerie and theatricality -- come together with the greatest force. Among its many qualities, Bleak House survives perhaps most vividly as an impassioned denunciation of hypocrisy, neglect, and selfishness, both institutional and personal. Money often changes people's lives. If you inherited a substantial amount of money would it change yours? Would you work or quit your job? Would you feel entitled to various privileges because of your wealth? Would you behave differently? These and other issues are the subject of the English novel Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Bleak House, like many of Dickens' writings, is about various social issues. Bleak House is a satirical story about Dickens' view of the British judiciary system. Both Esther Summerson, one of the characters in the story, and a separate third person narrator, tell the story. Esther speaks about the experiences of her life, and the third person narrator speaks about the experiences of some of the people of the town. Includes vintage illustration!