3 h 53 minAudiobook10 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
An empty house, a notice in the window, and a street full of curiosity: what lies behind the shuttered door?
In A House to Let, an ordinary London street becomes the starting point for linked stories by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell and Adelaide Anne Procter. Neighbours wonder about the empty house, while comedy, domestic drama, mystery and verse draw you into the lives connected with it.
Dickens brings neighbourly comedy and an eye for street life. In Collins's Trottle's Report, a servant investigates the people connected with the house. Gaskell's The Manchester Marriage turns toward family feeling, hardship and private choices in northern England. Together with Procter's verse, these pieces offer changing moods within one shared frame.
What you’ll discover
- A door worth watching Follow the curiosity that turns an empty house into the centre of attention.
- Comedy close to home Meet Dickens's odd characters and notice the habits that give a London street its life.
- A servant investigates Join Trottle as he seeks out what he can learn about the house's connections.
- The weight of choices Explore family feeling and hardship through Gaskell's domestic drama, The Manchester Marriage.
- Four writers, changing moods Move between detective curiosity, comedy, domestic drama and verse without leaving the shared frame.
Who will love it
Readers who like cosy puzzles, sharp comic voices and short tales gathered inside one clever frame, with a touch of Victorian London fog and plenty of warm-hearted feeling.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A lady cannot stop watching an empty house
- Two rivals bring stories to the tea table
- A showman and a dwarf go into Society
- A poem tells of a sister's sacrifice
- Trottle tries the front door himself
- Voices, themes and the craft of the frame
Who’s who
- Sophonisba (Sarah)The elderly, sharp-tongued narrator, who takes rooms in London and cannot rest until she learns why the house opposite never lets.
- TrottleHer loyal, opinionated servant of thirty-two years, who trusts facts and dates and works quietly on his own to solve the mystery.
- Jabez JarberA small, fussy old admirer who brings tales and a poem as discoveries and is eager to beat Trottle.
- Peggy FlobbinsSophonisba's affectionate maid, who keeps house with her in the London rooms and shares her anxious waiting.
- George ForleySophonisba's hard-hearted first cousin and the owner of the House, who looks after letting it.
- ChopsA kind and ambitious dwarf from Magsman's show, who dreams of going into Society once he gains property.
- NorahA faithful nurse in the Openshaw family who protects her mistress and the children in a moment of crisis.
- Benjamin and his motherA drunken man and his cunning mother, who guard the House for Mr. Forley and expect to be paid.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 3 h 53 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 10 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Ein Haus zu vermieten
by Charles Dickens; Wilkie Collins; Elizabeth Gaskell; Adelaide Anne Procter · 1858
A watchful old woman sees an eye shine through a shutter of the empty house across the street and cannot rest.
Medium level2–5 hours to read25 languages
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In short
A House to Let is a framed collection of linked pieces by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell and Adelaide Anne Procter. Each writer adds a section, and together they build one puzzle.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A lady cannot stop watching an empty house
The tale opens in Tunbridge Wells, where Sophonisba has lived for nearly ten years. Her doctor, Towers, and her servant Trottle agree she needs a change of air. Trottle goes to London and returns with news of suitable rooms. The only flaw lies outside them. The lodging looks across the street at a House to Let, and as Trottle warns, nobody knows why it never lets.
Sophonisba takes the rooms anyway. She travels by carriage and settles in with her maid, Peggy Flobbins. Trottle stays behind for a month, partly because she suspects him of being a philanderer, as she calls it. On the fifth of November she looks across the way through her glasses. Boys are dragging their Guy figures through the fog, and one rests on the doorstep of the empty house.
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What is A House to Let about?
It is about an elderly lady in London who cannot stop wondering why the house across the street never finds a tenant. Her friend and her servant gather tales and facts about its past, and the mystery is slowly pieced together.
Who wrote A House to Let?
Four writers shared it. Charles Dickens framed the tale, Elizabeth Gaskell wrote The Manchester Marriage, Adelaide Anne Procter wrote the poem, and Wilkie Collins supplied Trottle's Report. Together they form one linked Christmas story.
Is A House to Let a true story?
No, it is fiction. It was written for a Victorian Christmas number and set in the London of that day. Its characters, house and mystery are all invented, though streets and customs of the time are described realistically.
The author
Charles Dickens
1812–1870 · English novelist
Charles Dickens was an English novelist born in Portsmouth in 1812. He lived in London and later at Gad’s Hill Place in Kent, where he died in 1870. His books include The Pickwick Papers (1836–1837), A Christmas Carol (1843), David Copperfield (1849–1850), and Great Expectations (1860–1861).
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