Charles Dickens
Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed readings extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Our Mutual Friend
"Our Mutual Friend" was published in nineteen monthly numbers, in the fashion of many earlier Dickens novels, for the first time since "Little Dorrit" (1855–57). "A Tale of Two Cities" (1859) and "Great Expectations" (1860–1) had been serialised in Dickens's weekly magazine "All the Year Round." Dickens remarked to Wilkie Collins that he was "quite dazed" at the prospect of putting out twenty monthly parts after more recent weekly serials.