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  • Hello, I'm Darren. Today I'm going to tell you one of Charles Dickens' favourite novels.

  • It's the story of a boy called David Copperfield, who survived the cruel treatment of his stepfather

  • but grew up to find true love and success.

  • David spends his first happy years with his loving mother, a widow, and Pegotty, their

  • devoted housekeeper. Everything changes when Clara Copperfield meets the handsome but cruel

  • Mr Murdstone, who treats David badly. Pegotty takes David to Yarmouth to visit her brother,

  • a fisherman, who has taken two orphans, Ham and Emily, into care. After a wonderful fortnight,

  • David returns to find his mother has married Mr Murdstone. David's stepfather continues

  • to mistreat him. One day David bites him. Furious, Mr Murdstone takes the opportunity

  • to persuade Clara to send David to boarding school. It's a grim place, but David meets

  • the dashing Steerforth - the school's head boy.

  • Tragedy strikes when David learns that his mother and baby brother have died. He is sent

  • by Mr Murdstone to work in his London wine factory. He lodges with the happy-go-lucky

  • Micawber family, who are always in debt. When the authorities take Mr Micawber off to prison,

  • David runs away to Dover to take refuge with his aunt. Miss Betsy is quite formidable but

  • she takes pity on her nephew and sends him to a good school in Canterbury. He lives with

  • Mr Wickfield, her business manager, and his daughter. Agnes is David's good angel. David

  • also encounters the scheming Uriah Heep, Mr Wickfield's clerk. Such a creep and hypocrite!

  • David takes an instant dislike to him and indeed, Uriah will bring ruin to the Wickhams

  • and Aunt Betsy.

  • David, now 17, leaves school. En route to Yarmouth, he bumps into Steerforth, who travels

  • with him to Yarmouth. There they find Emily and Ham are engaged, though Steerforth seems

  • quite taken with Emily. This doesn't bode well!

  • I'll tell you what happens in the next part of the story when I see you next time. Bye

  • for now.

Hello, I'm Darren. Today I'm going to tell you one of Charles Dickens' favourite novels.

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