The novel takes place in England at the beginning of the 19th century. The author depicts a modern society saturated with cynicism, a thirst for money and power. Along with this, Dickens vividly depicts the lives of people, often innocently suffering from the intricacies of other people's intrigues. The complex plot of the novel, social orientation, denunciation of the existing system shortly after the publication of the novel brought a lot of criticism to the work. However, subsequently the book gained worldwide popularity and fame, including after high marks of this work by great writers - Dostoevsky, Bernard Shaw and others.