Step right up and meet Charles Dickens, the literary ringmaster of Victorian England, born in 1812. With a flourish of his pen, he conjured a carnival of characters, from the miserly Scrooge to the ever-hopeful Oliver Twist. His novels, rich with social critique and human drama, are as comforting as a warm hearth on a foggy London evening. Dickens: the man who painted life in all its gritty glory, reminding us that we all have "Great Expectations," and that even in the bleakest of times, it's possible to find "A Tale of Two Cities."