1. After attending one of his American reading tours, which US novelist wrote of Dickens: "He is a bad reader... he does not cut the syllables cleanly, and therefore many and many of them fell dead before they reached our part of the house."

   1. Mark Twain

   2. Henry James

   3. Herman Melville

   4. Louisa May Alcott

2. What was Dickens's pen name for his early pieces?

   1. Boz

   2. Phiz

   3. Toz

   4. Baz

3. Which of these is not a marketing opportunity in Broadstairs, where Dickens lived?

   1. The Old Curiosity Shop

   2. Little Dorrit Children's Clothes

   3. The Bar Nuby Rudge

   4. Bleak House Museum

4. Which Dickens novel is unfinished?

   1. Our Mutual Friend

   2. The Old Curiosity Shop

   3. The Mystery of Edwin Drood

   4. Martin Chuzzlewit

5. Which novel was Dickens's "favourite child"?

   1. Nicholas Nickleby

   2. David Copperfield

   3. Oliver Twist

   4. Barnaby Rudge

6. Which of these is not a Dickens name?

   1. Snodgrass

   2. Fludchin

   3. Gradgrind

   4. Pumblechook

7. Which Peter Carey novel was inspired by Great Expectations?

   1. The Tax Inspector

   2. Jack Maggs

   3. True History of the Kelly Gang

   4. The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith

8. Who was "ever so 'umble"?

   1. Seth Pecksniff

   2. Silas Wegg

   3. Uriah Heep

   4. Bob Cratchit

9. Which episode would you need a heart of stone not to laugh at, according to Oscar Wilde?

   1. The young David Copperfield, forced by his evil stepfather to wear a placard saying "He bites"

   2. The death of Betty Higden, who starves rather than enter a workhouse

   3. The death of the pure and innocent Little Nell

   4. The ancient, jilted Miss Havisham, still in her tattered wedding dress

10. Which are the two cities in A Tale of Two Cities?

    1. Paris and Berlin

    2. London and New York

    3. Liverpool and Manchester

    4. London and Paris

11. In Oliver Twist, what do Fagin's boys call the handkerchiefs they pickpocket?

    1. Sniffers

    2. Doves

    3. Snotrags

    4. Wipes

12. Which writer and later friend of Dickens applied unsuccessfully for the job of illustrator on The Pickwick Papers?

    1. Wilkie Collins

    2. Hans Christian Andersen

    3. Thomas Carlyle

    4. William Makepeace Thackeray

13. Who described Dickens as having "a large loving mind and the strongest sympathy with the poorer classes"?

    1. Queen Victoria

    2. George Bernard Shaw

    3. Iris Murdoch

    4. Terry Eagleton

Solutions

1:A, 2:A, 3:B, 4:C, 5:B, 6:B, 7:B, 8:C, 9:C, 10:D, 11:D, 12:D, 13:A

Scores

1. 4 and above.

   Bah, humbug! You have clearly invested a scrooge-like amount of effort on this quiz. <BR><BR> Literary satisfaction not reward enough? <A HREF="http://books.guardian.co.uk/offers/0,7438,678810,00.html">Win a trip</A> to Dickens's Paris.

2. 8 and above.

   "NOW, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life."<BR> Thomas Gradgrind, Hard Times <BR><BR> Face the facts, you really need to put your nose to the grindstone to get a better score than that. <BR><BR> <A HREF="http://books.guardian.co.uk/offers/0,7438,678810,00.html">Win a trip</A> to Dickens's Paris and get researching.

3. 13 and above.

   "It is a far, far, better thing that I do, than I have ever done..." <BR> Sydney Carton, A Tale of Two Cities <BR><BR> Well done. If, as according to David Copperfield, "trifles make the sum of life", you are looking at a rich life indeed. <BR><BR> <A HREF="http://books.guardian.co.uk/offers/0,7438,678810,00.html">Win a trip</A> to Dickens's Paris - you deserve it.