At the heart of this sweeping novel sits a monstrous lawsuit, Jarndyce and Jarndyce, a disputed inheritance so tangled it has dragged on for generations, ruining lives and enriching only the lawyers. Into its long shadow come three young wards taken in by the kindly Mr. Jarndyce, among them the gentle Esther Summerson, whose own origins are shrouded in mystery and shame. Elsewhere, the beautiful and proud Lady Dedlock guards a secret from her past, one that a watchful lawyer is quietly determined to expose. Dickens's vast, masterful 1853 novel weaves together a teeming world of fog, secrets, and slow-grinding injustice.