Charles Dickens (Landport, Portsmouth, England, 1812 - Gads Hill Place, 1870) is considered one of the most important novelists of the Victorian era. The Dickensian novel spread universally due to his imagination, irony and social criticism. The English writer's works reflect the lives of society's lowest class. A master of prose, the main theme of Dickens' work was childhood. His best-known novels are Oliver Twist (1837-39), David Copperfield (1849-1850) Hard Times (1854) and Great Expectations (1860-1861).