Charles Dickens - A Loja de Antiguidades

In front of several witnesses, Daniel O'Connell, the Irish leader, finished reading Dickens' novel, broke down in tears, and threw the book out the window of the moving train carriage he was traveling in. In London, in an old trinket shop, live the orphan Nell and her grandfather. Nell's parents died in poverty, and her grandfather protects her from the world. Her only contact with someone her own age is Kit, the young assistant who works in her grandfather's shop.

Willing to do anything to ensure a bright future for his granddaughter, the grandfather decides to try his luck at gambling, losing all the money he had, and even the shop, to the diabolical Daniel Quilp, a sadistic moneylender who delights in the misery of others. Expelled from the shop, Nell and her grandfather begin a terrible journey, facing life on the streets and being pursued by mysterious characters who believe that her grandfather had a fortune hidden away. Dickens' novel – originally published in installments with such success that there were invasions and confrontations on the New York docks when people awaited the arrival of the final chapter – is an indictment of avarice and the way honest citizens are exposed to human wickedness and live unprotected in a society that cares little for them. It was also one of the books that most contributed to drawing attention to the issue of homelessness in Victorian society, leading to the creation of social protection policies for a large segment of the population.