LITTLE DORRIT

a novel (1855–7) by Charles Dickens . Little Dorrit (whose real name is Amy) is the main character. She is a young woman whose father William Dorrit is in Marshalsea prison for owing money. She falls in love with Arthur Clennam, a man who tries to help her father. The book is noted for its descriptions of Marshalsea, where Dickens’s own father was a prisoner for a time.