Publisher's Synopsis
First serialised between 1855 and 1857. The novel is a work of satire on the shortcomings of the government and society Remains of the Marshalsea of the period. Much of Dickens' ire is focused upon the institutions of debtor's prisons-in which people who owed money were imprisoned, unable to work, until they repaid their debts; most other critiques are about other issues with regards to the social safety net: industry, and the treatment and safety of workers; the bureaucracy of the British government's ministries; and the separation of people based on the lack of intercourse between the classes
