David Copperfield is the story of a young man s adventures on his journey from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. Among the gloriously vivid cast of characters he encounters are his tyrannical stepfather, Mr Murdstone his brilliant, but ultimately unworthy school-friend Steerforth his formidable aunt, Betsey Trotwood his nemesis, the eternally humble Uriah Heep frivolous, enchanting Dora and the magnificently impecunious Micawber, one of literature s great comic creations. In David Copperfield the novel he described as his favourite child Dickens drew revealingly on his own experiences to create one of his most exuberant and enduringly popular works, filled with tragedy and comedy in equal measure.