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Bleak House may well be the finest literary work to come out of nineteenth-century England. In no other Victorian novel is the narrative more artful, the cast of characters more engaging, the satire more biting, the range of life more wonderfully vast. A miracle of authorial creation, the book is constructed around three great themes: the High Court of Chancery, whose endless litigation of Jarndyce and Jarndyce symbolizes the murky institutional fog surrounding all England; the theme of misplaced children, setting whimsical, carefree Harold Skimpole in poignant contrast with sad, young nameless Jo; and the mystery theme, a romantic tangle of trails followed by the three unforgettable sleuths, Guppy, Tulkinghorn, and Bucket, leading to the astonishing revelation of a certain lady's long-held secret. In prose that is unexcelled in its vivid evocation and intensely sensual imagery, Bleak House displays Dickens at the height of his creative powers.
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