Adelaide Anne Procter

An international celebrity during his lifetime, Charles Dickens (1812&shy;&ndash;1870) is widely regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His classic works include&#160;<I>A Christmas Carol</I>,&#160;<I>Oliver Twist</I>,&#160;<I>David Copperfield</I>,&#160;<I>Great Expectations</I>, and&#160;<I>A Tale of Two Cities</I>, one of the bestselling novels of all time. When Dickens was twelve years old, his father was sent to debtors&rsquo; prison, and the boy was forced to work in a boot-blacking factory to support his family. The experience greatly shaped both his fiction and his tireless advocacy for children&rsquo;s rights and social reform.<BR /><BR /> Wilkie Collins (1824&ndash;1889) was an English playwright and novelist. A close friend and frequent collaborator of Charles Dickens&rsquo;s, he is best known as the author of <I>The Moonstone</I> and <I>The Woman in White</I>, &ldquo;sensation novels&rdquo; widely recognized as forerunners of modern suspense.&#160;