Dombey and Son  Dombey and Son is a novel by English author Charles Dickens. It follows the fortunes of a shipping firm, whose owner is frustrated at not having a son to follow him in the job, and initially rejects his daughter’s love, eventually becoming reconciled with her before his death. The story features many Dickensian themes, such as arranged marriages, child cruelty, betrayal, deceit, and relations between people from different classes. The novel was first published in monthly parts between 1846 and 1848, with illustrations by Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). "Dombey and Son" appeared in monthly parts from 1 October 1846 to 1 April 1848 and in one volume in 1848. Its full title is "Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail and for Exportation." Dickens started writing the book in Lausanne, Switzerland, before returning to England, via Paris, to complete it. The story concerns Paul Dombey, the wealthy owner of the shipping company of the book's title, whose dream is to have a son to continue his business. The book begins when his son is born and Dombey's wife dies shortly after giving birth. Following the advice of Mrs. Louisa Chick, his sister, Dombey employs a wet nurse named Mrs. Richards (Toodle). Dombey already has a six-year-old daughter Florence, but, bitter at her not having been the desired boy, he neglects her continually. One day, Mrs. Richards, Florence, and her maid, Susan Nipper, secretly pay a visit to Mrs. Richard's house in Staggs's Gardens so that Mrs. Richards can see her children. During this trip, Florence becomes separated from them and is kidnapped for a short time by Good Mrs. Brown, before being returned to the streets. She makes her way to Dombey and Son's offices in the City and there is found and brought home by Walter Gay, an employee of Mr. Dombey, who first introduces her to his uncle, the navigation instrument maker Solomon Gills, at his shop The Wooden Midshipman. The child, named Paul after his father, is a weak and sickly child, who does not socialise normally with others; adults call him "old fashioned". He is intensely fond of his sister Florence, who is deliberately neglected by her father as irrelevant and a distraction. He is sent to the seaside at Brighton for his health, where he and Florence lodge with the ancient and acidic Mrs. Pipchin.