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David Copperfield (Centaur Classics) [The 100 greatest novels of all time - #64] Kindle Edition

by Charles Dickens (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 out of 5 stars 15,805 ratings
"David Copperfield" is the story of a young man’s adventures on his journey from an unhappy & impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. Among the gloriously vivid cast of characters he encounters are his tyrannical stepfather, Mr Murdstone; his formidable aunt, Betsey Trotwood; the eternally humble yet treacherous Uriah Heep; frivolous, enchanting Dora; & the magnificently impecunious Micawber, one of literature’s great comic creations.In "David Copperfield"—the novel he described as his “favorite child”—Dickens drew revealingly on his own experiences to create one of his most exuberant & enduringly popular works, filled with tragedy & comedy in equal measure.
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  1. Reading age
    14+ years, from customers
  2. Print length
    698 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Angelo Pereira
  5. Accessibility
    Learn more
  6. Publication date
    13 Jan. 2016
  7. Page Flip
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  8. Word Wise
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  9. Enhanced typesetting
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  10. ISBN-10
    9788892542433
  11. ISBN-13
    978-8892542433
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  1. Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o’clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.
    Highlighted by 62 Kindle readers
  2. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
    Highlighted by 49 Kindle readers
  3. I was destined to be unlucky in life; and secondly, that I was privileged to see ghosts and spirits; both these gifts inevitably attaching, as they believed, to all unlucky infants of either gender, born towards the small hours on a Friday night.
    Highlighted by 49 Kindle readers
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01AL0CJ7A
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Angelo Pereira
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 13 Jan. 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2.8 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 698 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9788892542433
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-8892542433
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14+ years, from customers
  • Customer reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 15,805 ratings

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  1. Charles Dickens

    Charles Dickens

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    Charles Dickens was born in 1812 near Portsmouth where his father was a clerk in the navy pay office. The family moved to London in 1823, but their fortunes were severely impaired. Dickens was sent to work in a blacking-warehouse when his father was imprisoned for debt. Both experiences deeply affected the future novelist. In 1833 he began contributing stories to newspapers and magazines, and in 1836 started the serial publication of Pickwick Papers. Thereafter, Dickens published his major novels over the course of the next twenty years, from Nicholas Nickleby to Little Dorrit. He also edited the journals Household Words and All the Year Round. Dickens died in June 1870.

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  2. Clare West

    Clare West

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4.5 out of 5 stars
15,805 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book thoroughly absorbing and filled with wonderful characters that mature throughout the story. They appreciate its humor and emotional depth, with one customer mentioning they laughed and cried while reading. The writing quality and plot receive mixed reactions - while some find it well written and intriguing, others describe it as unreadable. The print size receives criticism for being 108 pages of large print, though customers consider it a great value purchase, particularly noting it's available for free on Kindle.

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297 customers mention ‘Readability’297 positive0 negative

Customers find the book thoroughly absorbing and delightful, with one customer noting it's a great story teller and another mentioning it's good for catching up on classic literature.

"This book never ceases to inspire. Dickens is the master of realistic characterisation and some of the dialogue could have been written yesterday." Read more

"This book is good for reading" Read more

"...and sprayed page edges - not only is this edition attractive to look at and to hold but the pages are of a larger size than most paperbacks and the..." Read more

"David Copperfield was devilishly fun to read (or listen to - I got the audiobook by David Vance, but I also downloaded a free kindle version)...." Read more

74 customers mention ‘Character development’69 positive5 negative

Customers appreciate the character development in the book, noting it is brim full of wonderful and well-written characters that mature throughout the story, with one customer highlighting the best female characters throughout the author's works.

"This book never ceases to inspire. Dickens is the master of realistic characterisation and some of the dialogue could have been written yesterday." Read more

"...hero becomes part of a whole cast of eccentric, unusual and wonderfully weird characters, all of whom add greatly to this entertaining story of a..." Read more

"...talks about that need no further comment: skilful plotting and incredible characters (Betsey Trotwood and Mr Dick being my favourites)...." Read more

"...It’s great to read the original novel and to be able to connect the issues and characters...." Read more

106 customers mention ‘Writing quality’74 positive32 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the writing quality of the book, with some finding it very well written and wonderfully easy to read, while others describe it as unreadable.

"...Plain English is all well and good, but there's a satisfaction to be gained from deciphering a long and winding sentence...." Read more

"...Read this. Comic and tragic at turns, it is staggeringly brilliant writing." Read more

"...as it was free with Kindle and I had enjoyed the video, but what a difficult read! There's a good story in there struggling to get out though...." Read more

"One of the masterpieces of Charles Dickens. It is easy to read on my Kindle." Read more

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Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • G A West
    5.0 out of 5 stars À nostalgique read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 May 2025
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    This book never ceases to inspire. Dickens is the master of realistic characterisation and some of the dialogue could have been written yesterday.
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  • baxter
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great story
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 May 2025
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    Great story with a beginning and an end .none of this to be continued stuff........ Will now carry on with more Dickens
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  • SusannahB
    4.0 out of 5 stars Charles Dickens' Favourite Story
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 February 2020
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    When the hero of this story David Copperfield is born, his formidable Great Aunt Betsey Trotwood (angered by the unpalatable news that the baby is a male and not the female she confidently expected) leaves David’s widowed mother’s house in a fit of temper and, vowing never to return, she vanishes “like a discontented fairy.” Several years later, when David’s mother has died and David has been ill-treated by his cruel stepfather, he runs away and after several days on the road he arrives at his Aunt Betsey’s cottage in Dover, where the eccentric elderly lady lives with her companion, the even more eccentric but very lovable Mr Dick. And it is when Aunt Betsey decides to take the young David under her wing, that Master Copperfield’s life changes very much for the better. After receiving a decent education, paid for by his aunt, and having spent time in the holidays with the seafaring family of his old nurse, Peggotty, David introduces an old schoolfriend of his, the very handsome and financially independent Steerforth, to Peggotty’s beautiful niece, Emily - an event which has startling repercussions for all involved. In the meantime, David comes into the orbit of the odious and falsely subservient (and “ever so ‘umble”) Uriah Heep, who has nefarious plans to worm his way into the life of David’s lawyer friend, Mr Wickfield, and Mr Wickfield’s kind and beautiful daughter, Agnes; there is the lovely Tommy Traddles - a true friend to David; then there is the feckless, financially straitened (but marvellous) Mr Micawber, who cannot live by his own maxim of: "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery”; and our young hero becomes part of a whole cast of eccentric, unusual and wonderfully weird characters, all of whom add greatly to this entertaining story of a young man’s adventures as he travels from childhood to adulthood.

    Charles Dickens’ favourite of his novels (and one that is believed to be, at least in part, a thinly veiled autobiography of its author) this is a very engaging and entertaining story which I first read at school and which, although I have been meaning to revisit it many times since, has actually taken me decades to get around to it. However, now I have done so, I am very glad that I took the time out to reread this novel, and although I have to admit to finding some of Dickens’ writing to be overly dramatic and overly sentimental, it’s also true that he is a great storyteller who creates some wonderfully comical characters for his stories. Like the author’s ‘Great Expectations’ this is a marvellous coming-of-age story and one which amongst all the humour also looks at injustice, inequality, social status and more. Finally I will just add that for this rereading I chose the Vintage Classics edition with French flaps, decorated endpapers and sprayed page edges - not only is this edition attractive to look at and to hold but the pages are of a larger size than most paperbacks and the print is of a decent size too - which is not always the case with some of these reprinted classics. Recommended.

    4 Stars.
    25 people found this helpful
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  • Onewithall
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and educational!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 January 2013
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    David Copperfield was devilishly fun to read (or listen to - I got the audiobook by David Vance, but I also downloaded a free kindle version). I don't know if Dickens's writing style is so delicious because all nineteenth century writers wrote like that, or because of his wit - probably a combination of both. Plain English is all well and good, but there's a satisfaction to be gained from deciphering a long and winding sentence.

    It was a delight to discover if you want to improve your vocabulary and knowledge of Victorian England, this is the most entertaining way to do it. Vocabulary wise: I learned so many words (whereas in the past you had to lose momentum to look up a word in a dictionary, Kindle's dictionary made this so much quicker). Victorian England wise: I learned that lots of people died young back then, there were widows and widowers all over the shop, people walked bloody everywhere and for miles. And of course there are the things everyone talks about that need no further comment: skilful plotting and incredible characters (Betsey Trotwood and Mr Dick being my favourites). And I loved realising midway through that this story was probably somewhat autobiographical.

    I felt the Yarmouth/Emily storyline was a bit weaker than the others, but good nonetheless. Also, Copperfield bumps into old acquaintances a bit too frequently to be believable, but hey ho this is fiction. I thoroughly recommend Vance's audiobook, too. It can't have been easy with all those characters who each needed their own distinct voice, but he did a stellar job.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Samantha Platt
    5.0 out of 5 stars David Copperfeild
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 April 2025
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    This book is good for reading
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  • R. S. Stanier
    5.0 out of 5 stars Utterly fantastic
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 May 2003
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    For me, this may just pip "Great Expectations" as my vote for the BBC's Big Read thing.
    Written in the first person, like "Great Expectations", the early part of the book is regarded as highly autobiographical. The range of styles, and the sweep of the plot, though, dazzles throughout.
    True, the Little Emily stuff may be too melodramatic for today, but the characters here are Dickens at his very best. The odious Heep, the oh-so-brilliant Steerforth and the fumbling Mr Micawber.
    On one level, yes they are caricatures, but I have met people just like Mr Heep, and not too far from Steerforth.
    And when my boss denied me a raise in my salary the other day, claiming that were it down to her, she would certainly be looking to do it, but that her hands were tied by the senior management, I cast my mind straight back to David Copperfield trying to get a raise out of Spenlow and Jorkins. Timeless.
    For a Dickens, it's a middling size of book, so it'll take time, but it won't wipe out a month, like "Little Dorrit", say.
    Read this. Comic and tragic at turns, it is staggeringly brilliant writing.
    15 people found this helpful
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  • Lily-Rose
    3.0 out of 5 stars Demon Copperhead
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 April 2024
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    I read this because of Demon Copperhead (Kingsolver) which I loved. It’s great to read the original novel and to be able to connect the issues and characters. Very much like watching an original film and a much later adaptation. For me, it was not so easy (or as compelling) to read as Copperhead, but I checked the box and read it.
    2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • J in Mecosta
    5.0 out of 5 stars A treasure
    Reviewed in the United States on 8 February 2024
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    'Never,' said my aunt, 'be mean in anything; never be false; never be cruel. Avoid those three vices, Trot, and I can always be hopeful of you.'

    It is because David Copperfield (Trotwood, to his aunt) embodies these virtues that his character and this book are uplifting when so much of the story is filled with sadness. Despite all the hardships he experiences and all the hardships he sees in life around him, his nobility endures. He not only has the strength to see him through many challenges of heart and pocketbook, he lends his strength to those around him who are in need.

    The writing is sometimes deeply heartfelt and sometimes buoyantly humorous, but always engaging. Well, maybe not ALWAYS, but much of it is excellent and thought-provoking. I don't think Dickens would fault me for drifting off a time or two in his lengthy classic (which I later regretted). To quote:
    "I never thought, when I used to read books, what work it was to write them.' 'It's work enough to read them, sometimes,' I [Copperfield] returned. 'As to the writing, it has its own charms, aunt.

    Dickens always introduces us to unique and engaging characters in his novels, and this novel does not disappoint. I was glad to finish this book, but like him, sad to say farewell to those heroes, and even villains, I had spent so much time with and who he so aptly described.

    'Clever! She brings everything to a grindstone,' said Steerforth, 'and sharpens it, as she has sharpened her own face and figure these years past. She has worn herself away by constant sharpening. She is all edge.'

    He is not unaware of his own faults and failings in his journey to manhood.
    'Mr. Creakle cuts a joke before he beats him, and we laugh at it,—miserable little dogs, we laugh, with our visages as white as ashes, and our hearts sinking into our boots.'

    There is Dickens' usual commentary on the nature of society and evils it is prone to and the evil its individuals are prone to, as well. His observations are always prescient, and truths, universal.

    '"Satan finds some mischief still, for idle hands to do."' 'Egad, Doctor,' returned Mr. Wickfield, 'if Doctor Watts knew mankind, he might have written, with as much truth, "Satan finds some mischief still, for busy hands to do." The busy people achieve their full share of mischief in the world, you may rely upon it. What have the people been about, who have been the busiest in getting money, and in getting power, this century or two? No mischief?'

    'It may be profitable to you to reflect, in future, that there never were greed and cunning in the world yet, that did not do too much, and overreach themselves. It is as certain as death.'

    Of course, he sees much goodness, too.
    'From my swoon, I first awoke to a consciousness of her compassionate tears, her words of hope and peace, her gentle face bending down as from a purer region nearer Heaven, over my undisciplined heart, and softening its pain.'

    He has much to say on love and marriage...love and the undisciplined heart, what marriage is founded upon, and the changes and adaptations one must be prepared to make. Things no one knows about or, at least, understands until they have had the experience. Not even Dickens' profound and emotional words can discipline our hearts.

    I would love to revisit this novel in the future, understanding what I know now..."yet knowing how way leads on to way..."
    Review by R. E. Admore, author of "Mist and Amethyst"
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  • matteo
    5.0 out of 5 stars David Copperfield (English Edition) : un must per chi ama le storie di vita
    Reviewed in Italy on 9 February 2025
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    Scritto in un inglese fluente, racconta dettagli inediti e curiosi del grande David Copperfield che vi stupiranno. Molto utile anche per approfondire la lingua inglese, dalla quale escono sfumature della sua vita non sempre intuibili ne sovrapponibili all'edizione italiana. Davvero un bel libro, consigliatissimo!
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  • lively2
    5.0 out of 5 stars Très satisfaite
    Reviewed in France on 19 October 2022
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    C'est mon livre de chevet depuis que je suis enfant et je ne suis plus toute jeune ! Je le cherchais dans sa version originale je suis ravie de l'avoir enfin trouvé 😀
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  • Demora muito para preparar o café
    5.0 out of 5 stars clássico da literatura inglesa
    Reviewed in Brazil on 1 January 2025
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    Um clássico da literatura inglesa,Charles Dickens escreveu este livro baseado em fatos da própria vida ! Vale a pena ler !!!
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  • Linda
    5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Book
    Reviewed in Sweden on 8 July 2023
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    A beautiful cover as all Penguin English Library books have. Quite bulky and hefty. But to be expected when it's just over a thousand pages long. Except to break the spine a bit reading it. But that's fine given its size. Nice readable font.

    Otherwise, what can I say?
    A Dickens Classic and also Dickens most autobiographical novel written.
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