<i>The Old Curiosity Shop</i> was an instant bestseller that, even while it was criticized for its sentimentality, captured the hearts of the nation with its portrayal of little Nell Trent, who is thrown into a terrifying world when her beloved grandfather is unable to pay his debts to the loathsome Quilp. Alongside the pathos of the innocent, tragic Nell are some of Dickens&#39;s greatest characters: the ne&#39;er-do&#39;well Dick Swiveller, the mannish lawyer Sally Brass, the half-starved &#39;Marchioness&#39; and the lustful Quilp himself, a creation of demonic power and cruelty.