Day Seventeen

4/17

The Book: Bleak House by Charles Dickens

ISBN: 978-1-59308-311-3

Suggested By: Rebecca Mitchell

Where: Home

When:8:00-8:45p

Music: None

Company: Family

Pages: 23-78 (55)

The Lead In: Ah, my first Dickens. And finals are upon me and I have ignored them all semester. This will be a complicated time.

The 411 on the 55: The background is a huge court case, Jarndyce and Jarndyce, which has gone on forever. Everyone in London is involved in some way or another. Has been going on without pause for years and seems to be headed towards many more.

Into this scene step three adult orphans, Esther (who has received training as a housekeeper/maid/nanny) and two siblings, Ada and Richard (who are well-trained and well-educated for orphans). These three are brought by their unknown cousin, John Jarndyce to live together with a family in London, the Jellyby’s. Mrs. Jellyby is so fascinated with her study of Africa that she ignored her entire family.

However, after several days, a coach is sent for the orphans and they are carried to Mr. Jarndyce’s home.

Line of the Day: “Your mother, Esther, is your disgrace, and you were hers.” pg 32

The Fact on the Fiction: Bleak House was actually published in twenty monthly installments in 1852-53. Wikipedia