Best Charles Dickens Books

The best books by Charles Dickens — 15 titles spanning Literature & Fiction, Historical Fiction, Horror, averaging 3.84 BLT stars.

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Charles Dickens invented the social novel as we know it — dense with characters, seething with moral outrage, and somehow never less than entertaining. His prose is theatrical and relentless, piling on detail and coincidence until the world he's built feels more real than the one outside. A Tale of Two Cities operates like a machine, its dual timelines converging in one of literature's most famous final lines. Great Expectations is sharper and more personal, a bildungsroman with a bitter streak that never fully resolves. And A Christmas Carol remains the template for every redemption story written since. Dickens is also underrated as a writer of the uncanny — his ghost stories carry genuine chill. Readers who want sprawling Victorian plots, unforgettable grotesques, and writing that's simultaneously funny and devastating will find no better company.

Charles Dickens's highest-rated book in our collection is A Christmas Carol: A Signature Performance (4.63 BLT stars). Browse the full list below.

Where to Start with Charles Dickens

  1. 1
    A Christmas Carol: A Signature Performance cover

    A Christmas Carol: A Signature Performance

    by Charles Dickens, Tim Curry

    4.63 BLT Score (947.2K ratings)
    ★ 4.09 Goodreads (947.2K)
  2. 2
    Great Expectations cover

    Great Expectations

    by Charles Dickens

    4.35 BLT Score (879.9K ratings)
    ★ 3.8 Goodreads (879.9K)
  3. 3
    A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens Complete Works) cover

    A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens Complete Works)

    by Charles Dickens, John Shuckburgh, Hablot Knight Browne

    4.15 BLT Score (1.0M ratings)
    ★ 3.88 Goodreads (1.0M)
  4. 4
    A Christmas Carol cover

    A Christmas Carol

    by Charles Dickens

    3.96 BLT Score (947.6K ratings)
    ★ 4.09 Goodreads (947.6K)
  5. 5
    Nicholas Nickleby cover

    Nicholas Nickleby

    by Anne de Graaf, Charles Dickens

    3.90 BLT Score (34 ratings)
    ★ 3.91 Goodreads (34)
  6. 6
    Oliver Twist cover

    Oliver Twist

    by Charles Dickens

    3.90 BLT Score (431.1K ratings)
    ★ 3.88 Goodreads (431.1K)
  7. 7
    The Pickwick Papers (Charles Dickens) cover

    The Pickwick Papers (Charles Dickens)

    by Charles Dickens

    3.89 BLT Score (32.4K ratings)
    ★ 3.85 Goodreads (32.4K)
  8. 8
    Our Mutual Friend cover

    Our Mutual Friend

    Our Mutual Friend #1-2

    by Charles Dickens, Richard Gaughan

    3.85 BLT Score (31.6K ratings)
    ★ 4.09 Goodreads (31.6K)
  9. 9
    The Cricket on the Hearth cover

    The Cricket on the Hearth

    by Charles Dickens

    3.75 BLT Score (8.8K ratings)
    ★ 3.47 Goodreads (8.8K)
  10. 10
    The Phantom Coach: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Ghost Stories (The Connoisseur's Collections) cover

    The Phantom Coach: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Ghost Stories (The Connoisseur's Collections)

    by Michael Sims, Elizabeth Gaskell, Amelia B. Edwards, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, Henry James, Robert W. Chambers, Mrs. Oliphant, W.W. Jacobs, Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman, Rudyard Kipling, Ambrose Bierce, W.F. Harvey

    3.67 BLT Score (295 ratings)
    ★ 3.73 Goodreads (295)
  11. 11
    The Charles Dickens BBC Radio Drama Collection: The Early Years cover

    The Charles Dickens BBC Radio Drama Collection: The Early Years

    by Charles Dickens, Alex Jennings, Anna Massey, Bill Nighy, Julia McKenzie, Pam Ferris, Phil Daniels, Robert Glenister, Sandi Toksvig, Tim McInnerny

    3.65 BLT Score (15 ratings)
    ★ 4.47 Goodreads (15)
  12. 12
    Dombey and son / cover

    Dombey and son /

    by Charles Dickens

    3.56 BLT Score (58 ratings)
    ★ 4.12 Goodreads (58)
  13. 14
    The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain cover

    The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain

    by Charles Dickens

    3.48 BLT Score (2.3K ratings)
    ★ 3.29 Goodreads (2.3K)
  14. 15
    Victorian Anthologies: Christmas Spirits cover

    Victorian Anthologies: Christmas Spirits

    Victorian Anthologies: Christmas Spirits • Book 1

    by Charles Dickens, various

    3.41 BLT Score (0 ratings)

How We Rank Audiobooks

Rankings are driven by listener ratings and review counts from Audible and Goodreads. Books with high ratings across a large number of listeners rank higher — a 4.5 with 50,000 ratings says more than a 4.8 with 200.

Unlike most book lists, we weight audiobook-specific factors: narrator performance, production quality, and how well a story translates to audio. A great book with a poor narration isn't a great audiobook.

We don't accept paid placements or prioritize new releases. These rankings reflect what listeners actually enjoy, not what's being promoted.

Rankings update periodically as new ratings come in and new titles are added to the collection.

Read our full ranking methodology →