David Copperfield
Charles Dickens, Jeremy Tambling, H.K. Browne
Readers rate it 3.9 (377 on Hardcover)
974 pages · Released Sep 3, 2026 · Penguin Books
Content report card
David Copperfield parent’s guide: what’s inside
LGBTQ+ themes
What it offers
A note for parents
David Copperfield is a classic coming-of-age novel following a young protagonist through hardship, mistreatment, and eventual success. While it contains some dark Victorian-era content—including child neglect, emotional abuse, and poverty—the tone is ultimately hopeful and the story rewards resilience and moral character. The language and references reflect 19th-century English life, with occasional period-appropriate coarseness, but nothing gratuitously vulgar. Best suited for confident middle-grade and early teen readers who enjoy character-driven historical fiction.
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From the publisher
It adds to the charm of this book to remember that it is virtually a picture of the author's own boyhood. It is an excellent picture of the life of a struggling English youth in the middle of the last century. The pictures of Canterbury and London are true pictures and through these pages walk one of Dickens' wonderful... It adds to the charm of this book to remember that it is virtually a picture of the author's own boyhood. It is an excellent picture of the life of a struggling English youth in the middle of the last century. The pictures of Canterbury and London are true pictures and through these pages walk one of Dickens' wonderful processions of characters, quaint and humorous, villainous and tragic. Nobody cares for Dickens heroines, least of all for Dora, but take it all in al, l this book is enjoyed by young people more than any other of the great novelist. After having read this you will wish to read Nicholas Nickleby for its mingling of pathos and humor, Martin Chuzzlewit for its pictures of American life as seen through English eyes, and Pickwick Papers for its crude but boisterous humor.
Shelved under
- Strong Character Development
- Loveable Characters
- Not Diverse Characters
- Diverse Characters
- Character driven
- A mix driven
- Plot driven
- Middle grade
- classics
- Weak Character Development
- emotional
- funny
Books in the Graphic Classics series
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ISBN 9780140439441 · Penguin Books