Read Charles Dickens s first novel. The Pickwick Papers was Dickens’ first novel and was a huge success when it was first published. It tells the tale of the irrepressible Mr Pickwick and his fellow Pickwick Club members who travel around the English countryside getting into all kinds of scrapes and adventures. Funny, warm-hearted and full of memorable and engaging characters, this is an enchanting novel that continues to delight readers today. I was instantly swept up in Dickens’ exploding world of eccentrics and grotesques, at the heart of which a is a huge affection for mankind’ Simon Callow