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The author's "behind-the-scenes" description of the royal court is weaved carefully, non-intrusively into the story so that it serves as a wonderfully rich background to the novel rather than reading like excerpts from a history textbook. Above all, I loved this book for all of its gossip, scheming and betrayal- very fun read.

Good cook book, but there isn't as much variety as I like to see.

Another great read from Mr. Dickens! It still isn't my favorite of Dickens's novels ("Bleak House" having that distinction), but seeing as they were both written around the same time, I can see the social influences. Dickens's interest in the slow grinding up of individuals by a corrupt and irresponsible system is paramount here. Like "BH"'s Chancery, "LD"'s Circumlocution Office is relateable to all readers in any age as coming to stand in for the inhuman "system." The various plot lines start to come together in not wholly surprising ways,which is my only criticism. What one had guessed would happen throughout the text did, in fact, occur, leaving the ending to be a little flat. The text, however, is full of memorable characters, nonetheless, and a heartwarming dressing-down of those hypocrites who pretend a level of care of those less fortunate, while reaping all of the the rewards from an unjust system.