LITERATURE SPOT
- conceited – excessively proud and vain
- deserted – without people, empty
- recluse – a person who lives alone and avoids other people
- vile – extremely unpleasant
- weary – tired
- unkempt – messy and untidy
- perished – died
- humble – low social position
- eccentric – strange and unusual
- dismal – sad, dark
- scornfully – laughingly and cruelly
- crumbling – falling apart into small pieces
- Charles Dickens is often considered to be the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.
- He was not only popular after his death, but he also was extremely popular during his lifetime – something that no previous author had achieved at that time.
- Some of his most notable books are A Tale of Two Cities, Hard Times and Oliver Twist.
- It is thought that his own life story influenced some of his best loved novels, David Copperfield and Great Expectations.
- Everyone in the village had heard of Miss Havisham; she was a very wealthy but eccentric lady who lived in the nearest town.
- However, most people had never seen her because she was a recluse and never left her dismal, old house.
- As I stood before her, I noticed the clocks, all stopped at twenty minutes to nine.
- Miss Havisham made me promise to come back in six days.
- Joe told me to be happy with my position in life, but I could not forget what had happened.