Charles Dickens was born in 1812 and grew up in poverty. This experience influenced 'Oliver Twist', the second of his fourteen major novels, which first appeared in 1837. When he died in 1870, he was buried in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey as an indication of his huge popularity as a novelist, which endures to this day. Maria Cairney currently teaches in a sixth form college in Manchester. She is an experienced A Level English Literature and English Language teacher and examiner with a PhD in Victorian literature and a special interest in 19th century serialised fiction by writers such as Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle. Before becoming a teacher, Maria was also, for many years, a magazine journalist and editor.

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