Dombey and Son

Mr. Dombey is a successful businessman who looks forward to the day when his young son Paul will be old enough to join the family business. But Dombey also has a loving daughter, Florence, whom he ignores, lavishing all his attention on his precious son. Set in the 1840s, against a background of Britain's emerging industrial power, the world of commerce and the developing railway, Dickens tells a moving story of a dysfunctional family and society. He shows the effects of the struggle between the unnatural (the pursuit of power and wealth) and the natural (the love of family and friends), striking a distinctly modern note.