Mr Dombey is a proud, stern man with an ambition to gain a son and thus entitle his shipping firm "Dombey and Son." This tale leads Mr Dombey through personal tragedy to bitterness and separation from those who he has wronged and who have endeavoured to love him despite his actions.

Frederick Davidson gives such a splendid dramatization of this family saga, set in London in the 1840's, that it's almost like watching theater. Davidson matches his versatile voice to each one of the principals. He also manages to distinguish with equal elasticity among a host of vivid and disparate supporting characters. Thanks to Davidson's seamless delivery, the narrative sweeps the listener through more than 40 hours of sustained drama. J.H.L. An AUDIOFILE Earphones Award winner.

Mr Dombey is a man obsessed with his firm. His son is groomed from birth to take his place within it, despite his visionary eccentricity and declining health. But Dombey also has a daughter, whose unfailing love for her father goes unreturned. 'Girls,' said Mr Dombey, 'have nothing to do with Dombey and Son.'

When Walter Gay, a young clerk in her father's office, rescues her from a bewildering experience in the streets of London, his unforgettable friends believe he is well on his way to receiving her hand in marriage and inheriting the company. It is to be a very different type of story.

Dombey and Son moved grown men to tears (Thackeray despaired of 'writing against such power as this'), but its rich, comic characters and their joyful explosions of language draw laughter with equally unerring magic.

INTRODUCTION

PREFACE

Dombey and Son

In which timely Provision is made for an Emergency that will sometimes arise in the best-regulated Families

In which Mr Dombey, as a Man and a Father, is seen at the Head of the Home Department

In which some more First Appearances are made on the Stage of these Adventures

Paul's Progress and Christening

Paul's Second Deprivation

A Bird's-eye Glimpse of Miss Tox's Dwelling-place; also of the State of Miss Tox's Affections

Paul's further Progress, Growth and Character

In which the Wooden Midshipman gets into Trouble

Containing the Sequel of the Midshipman's Disaster

Paul's Introduction to a New Scene

Paul's Education

Shipping Intelligence and Office Business

Paul grows more and more Old-fashioned, and goes Home for the Holidays

Amazing Artfulness of Captain Cuttle, and a New Pursuit for Walter Gay

What the graves were always saying

Captain Cuttle does a little Business for the Young People

Father and Daughter

Walter goes away

Mr Dombey goes upon a Journey

New Faces

A Trifle of Management by Mr Carker the Manager

Florence Solitary and the Midshipman Mysterious

The Study of a Loving Heart

Strange News of Uncle Sol

Shadows of the Past and Future

Deeper Shadows

Alterations

The Opening of the Eyes of Mrs Chick

The Interval before the Marriage

The Wedding

The Wooden Midshipman goes to Pieces

Contrasts

Another Mother and Daughter

The Happy Pair

House-warming

More Warnings than One

Miss Tox Improves an Old Acquaintance

Further Adventures of Captain Edward Cuttle, Mariner

Domestic Relations

New Voices in the Waves

Confidential and Accidental

The Watches of the Night

A Separation

The Trusty Agent

Recognisant and Reflective

The Thunderbolt

The Flight of Florence

The Midshipman makes a Discovery

Mr Toot's Complaint

Mr Dombey and the World

Secret Intelligence

More Intelligence

The Fugitives

Rob the Grinder loses his Place

Several People delighted, and the Game Chicken disgusted

Another Wedding

After a Lapse

Retribution

Chiefly Matrimonial

Relenting

Final

NOTES