At the centre of the novel there is a long-running legal case, „Jarndyce and Jarndyce", which connects many different characters and sub-plots. The heroine of the novel is Esther Summerson who is raised as an orphan by Miss Barbary and does not know her parents´ identity. After the death of Miss Barbary, John Jarndyce becomes Esther´s guardian, and she moves in with him at Bleak House. There she makes a surprising discovery, and things start to move. Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was an English writer and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian time. Some of the world´s best-known fictional characters were created by him. His short stories and novels enjoy everlasting popularity, and many modern critics and scholars even regard him as a literary genius. "Bleak House" is one of Dickens´ major novels and was first published as a serial of 20 monthly instalments (1852-1853). This edition contains the original beautiful illustrations by Hablot Knight Browne aka Phiz (1815-1882).