It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way-in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Charles Dickens was born February 7, 1812, near the town of Portsmouth, England. When he was twelve, his father was arrested for debt and sent to prison and Charles went to work in a factory. At fifteen he worked as a law clerk and at nineteen, a reporter. His writing career began in 1837 with Pickwick Papers and was to include many great works such as Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and A Tale of Two Cities. He died on June 9, 1870.