Nicholas Nickleby

Nicholas Nickleby, novel by Charles Dickens, published as a 20-part monthly serial in the periodical Bentley’s Miscellany from April 1838 to October 1839. It was first published as a single volume in 1839.

The novel focuses on Nicholas, a young boy left penniless after his father’s death. He, his mother, and his sister Kate are thus thrown to the mercy of his usurer uncle, Ralph Nickleby. While working at a school, the brutal Dotheboys Hall in Yorkshire, Nicholas befriends the maltreated servant, Smike, and escapes with him from the cruelty of the master, Wackford Squeers. After a spell as an actor in Portsmouth, Nicholas finds work in London with the benevolent Cheeryble brothers. Hearing that Ralph is to marry Kate to the villainous Sir Mulberry Hawk, Nicholas saves her and then remains with his family. He falls in love with Madeline Bray, another victim of Ralph’s matchmaking schemes, and protects her. Enraged by this, Ralph pursues revenge and attempts to separate Smike from Nicholas. The plan fails but Smike dies from consumption. Smike is then revealed to be Ralph’s son; the miser, thwarted and filled with remorse, hangs himself. Finally, Squeers is sentenced to transportation, Dotheboys Hall is closed, Nicholas marries Madeline, and Kate marries Frank, the Cheerybles’ wealthy nephew.