StoryPDF
StoryPDFLittle DorritCharles Dickens

Little Dorrit

Charles Dickens

Complete text
NovelEnglish

Amy Dorrit has grown up around the Marshalsea debtors' prison, caring for a father who has adapted to confinement. Arthur Clennam's return to England draws him toward her family, as private secrets and public institutions entangle people whose freedoms depend on money.

71 sections338,849 wordsAbout 25 h 40 min
Read nowDownload PDF

About Little Dorrit

Dickens extends the idea of imprisonment beyond walls to bureaucracy, status, family obligation, and financial speculation. Amy's quiet labor provides a counterpoint to the elaborate performances of people concerned with social standing. The novel's two-part movement makes changes in fortune an opportunity to examine which habits and dependencies actually change with them.

Reading focus

Explore a world of debt and bureaucracy where apparent freedom can conceal obligations as confining as prison walls.

This reading edition contains 338,849 words in 71 original sections. Read the text online with adjustable type and three colour themes, or keep a printable PDF.

Author: Charles Dickens. Language: English. Reading edition: 28 October 2026.

Opening excerpt

I have been occupied with this story, during many working hours of two years. I must have been very ill employed, if I could not leave its merits and demerits as a whole, to express themselves on its being read as a whole. But, as it is not unreasonable to suppose that I may have held its threads with a more continuous attention than anyone else can have given them during its desultory publication, it is not unreasonable to ask that the weaving may be looked at in its completed state, and with the pattern finished.

Read the complete opening section

Contents

All sections
  1. PREFACE TO THE 1857 EDITION4 min
  2. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 1. Sun and Shadow26 min
  3. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 2 Fellow Travellers25 min
  4. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 3. Home25 min
  5. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 4. Mrs Flintwinch has a Dream6 min
  6. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 5. Family Affairs22 min
  7. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 6. The Father of the Marshalsea20 min
  8. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 7. The Child of the Marshalsea20 min
  9. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 8. The Lock21 min
  10. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 9. Little Mother26 min
  11. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 10. Containing the whole Science of Government37 min
  12. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 11. Let Loose19 min
  13. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 12. Bleeding Heart Yard18 min
  14. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 13. Patriarchal44 min
  15. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 14. Little Dorrit’s Party23 min
  16. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 15. Mrs Flintwinch has another Dream17 min
  17. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 16. Nobody’s Weakness27 min
  18. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 17. Nobody’s Rival18 min
  19. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 18. Little Dorrit’s Lover19 min
  20. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 19. The Father of the Marshalsea in two or three Relations22 min
  21. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 20. Moving in Society27 min
  22. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 21. Mr Merdle’s Complaint16 min
  23. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 22. A Puzzle18 min
  24. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 23. Machinery in Motion31 min
  25. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 24. Fortune-Telling31 min
  26. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 25. Conspirators and Others20 min
  27. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 26. Nobody’s State of Mind24 min
  28. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 27. Five-and-Twenty24 min
  29. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 28. Nobody’s Disappearance15 min
  30. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 29. Mrs Flintwinch goes on Dreaming15 min
  31. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 30. The Word of a Gentleman30 min
  32. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 31. Spirit30 min
  33. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 32. More Fortune-Telling18 min
  34. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 33. Mrs Merdle’s Complaint19 min
  35. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 34. A Shoal of Barnacles19 min
  36. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 35. What was behind Mr Pancks on Little Dorrit’s Hand26 min
  37. BOOK THE FIRST: POVERTY — CHAPTER 36. The Marshalsea becomes an Orphan14 min
  38. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 1. Fellow Travellers30 min
  39. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 2. Mrs General8 min
  40. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 3. On the Road31 min
  41. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 4. A Letter from Little Dorrit8 min
  42. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 5. Something Wrong Somewhere29 min
  43. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 6. Something Right Somewhere29 min
  44. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 7. Mostly, Prunes and Prism22 min
  45. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 8. The Dowager Mrs Gowan is reminded that ‘It Never Does’23 min
  46. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 9. Appearance and Disappearance30 min
  47. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 10. The Dreams of Mrs Flintwinch thicken14 min
  48. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 11. A Letter from Little Dorrit13 min
  49. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 12. In which a Great Patriotic Conference is holden29 min
  50. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 13. The Progress of an Epidemic29 min
  51. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 14. Taking Advice21 min
  52. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 15. No just Cause or Impediment why these Two Persons31 min
  53. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 16. Getting on14 min
  54. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 17. Missing19 min
  55. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 18. A Castle in the Air13 min
  56. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 19. The Storming of the Castle in the Air30 min
  57. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 20. Introduces the next19 min
  58. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 21. The History of a Self-Tormentor19 min
  59. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 22. Who passes by this Road so late?13 min
  60. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 23. Mistress Affery makes a Conditional Promise,24 min
  61. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 24. The Evening of a Long Day19 min
  62. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 25. The Chief Butler Resigns the Seals of Office18 min
  63. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 26. Reaping the Whirlwind17 min
  64. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 27. The Pupil of the Marshalsea28 min
  65. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 28. An Appearance in the Marshalsea34 min
  66. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 29. A Plea in the Marshalsea18 min
  67. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 30. Closing in48 min
  68. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 31. Closed18 min
  69. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 32. Going15 min
  70. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 33. Going!21 min
  71. BOOK THE SECOND: RICHES — CHAPTER 34. Gone23 min

Reading & download help

Is this the complete Little Dorrit?

This edition contains the complete English literary text, with 71 sections and 338,849 words. This reading edition preserves the checked English text and its section order. No study notes have been added.

Which PDF should I choose?

A4 is designed for 210 × 297 mm paper; US Letter for 8.5 × 11 inch paper. Both contain the same complete text, selectable text and section bookmarks.

Can I read without signing up?

Yes. Online reading and both PDFs are free. Reading settings and progress stay on this device.

Edition details and corrections.