Finished: Bleak House (Dickens) A very long, but typically good Dickens book...his scathing commentary on lawyers, courts, and the entire 1800's English judicial system as told through one huge generations-old lawsuit, Jarndyce vs Jarndyce. and through the eyes of several characters, including a selfless heroine who for once gets a :::gasp::: happy ending!  The book is far too long and has far too many characters to do a total recap. The lawsuit involves an old will and just who exactly the benefactors are supposed to be. While it grinds on through the legal system, and becomes nothing more than a joke to most of the lawyers, and a devastating albatross of faux-hope for many of the "benefactors", lives are ruined along the way as people become consumed with getting an outcome. One of the people listed in the lawsuit, John Jarndyce, is a man in his fifties who has long since washed his hands of the lawsuit and lived fairly well off at his estate, Bleak House. Bleak...so named because both his father and his father before him wasted their lives away in the Jarndyce vs Jarndyce suit, eventually succumbing earlier than they should have. John, determined to escape that fate, becomes the benefactor to two young orphan cousins, 19 year old Richard and 17 year old Ada, who are named in the lawsuit. Richard holds out hope that they will eventually settle, and is sadly never able to stick to any of the many careers he tries, eventually becoming so obsessed with the lawsuit that he alienates John Jarndyce, goes into terrible debt, and dies in his early twenties. This is not before he and Ada fall madly in love (as many 1800's English cousins apparently did) and married. Before Richard's downfall, John Jarndyce brings a lovely young lady of about 20, who happens to be an orphan herself, Esther Summerson, to Bleak House. Esther is a caring, selfless, pretty young woman who has been brought up by her cruel aunt...who never even tells her that she's her aunt! She is kept away from other people, and eventually sent to be educated at a girl's school. What we soon find out is that Esther is really the daughter of Lady Dedlock, a rich woman married to the older Sir Leicester Dedlock. Having had a relationship with a man she loved before she was married, Lady Dedlock gave birth to a daughter who she was told (by her sister) had died. Then, the man she loved was also presumed dead at sea. Lady Dedlock thought it would shame her sister and her family for the baby to be known to the world, so she lies to her sister about her stillbirth, hides the baby away and raises her like she's a maid. Esther, however, is a veritable Cinderella in terms of gentleness and kindness. When John Jarndyce comes to know of her after her aunt dies, he sends for Esther to come and be the companion to his ward, Ada. Ada, also a very sweet, beautiful girl, and Esther become as close as sisters. Many twisty, turny relationships and happenings occur between several characters, ranging from the poorest of the poor, to the terribly shady, awful lawyers, to an ex-military man who has never settled down, to his ex-military friend who is happily married with three children and making an ok living as a musician. Some particularly memorable characters: George Rouncewell, the aforementioned military man who is one of the good guys; Mr. Snagsby, another good guy who runs a law stationary business; Jo, the poorest of the poor boy who lives on the street and is treated so kindly by George, Mr. Snagsby and Esther before finally dying; Mr. Tulkinghorn, the sinister, intimidating, blackmailing lawyer, loyal only to Sir Dedlock, who holds Lady Dedlock's secret over her head and leads several people to become suspects in his eventual murder; Inspector Bucket, the wily detective that you at first think will be sinister, but turns out to be a good person who does the right thing in all instances; the Bagnet family, Mr., Mrs. and three kids, who are dear friends of George Rouncewell and are one of the few pictures of family happiness in the book; and Allan Woodcourt, a gifted young doctor and another one of the good, selfless guys, who falls in love with Esther, and she with him. When Esther's face is disfigured after surviving a deadly illness, she assumes that Allan could not possibly love her, but only pity her. Of course, in the end...after doing countless good deeds together for so many people, they get their happy ending and are married, and have two daughters of their own. :-) There are countless other characters in the book, and at times it's hard to keep track of them all, but Dickens ends up weaving them all into either the Jarndyce vs Jarndyce story, or into the underlying more personal story about Lady Dedlock's secret. When Lady Dedlock finds out that her daughter did live and that she's in fact, Esther, they have a heartwarming reunion...but then a just as heart wrenching goodbye, as Lady Dedlock begs Esther for both their sakes to keep the secret. She doesn't want to bring shame to her husband or to make things hard for her daughter, who has found a good place with John Jarndyce. Once Sir Dedlock does finally find out the secret, though, he begs Inspector Bucket to find his wife, who has left what seems to be a goodbye suicide note, and tell her that he loves her and holds nothing against her for what happened before they knew each other! Alas, when Inspector Bucket, Esther and Allan find Lady Dedlock after searching all night, they do sadly find her dead. :-(  That left me with a dreaded feeling that Esther wouldn't get a happy ending at all, which was why I was so glad when Allan finally declared his love for her, and she for him. :-) So glad I finally read this long book, which has been sitting on my shelf, intimidating me for awhile, lol. He may be wordy, and use lots of literary and historical references, and write probably way over my head, but I have enjoyed reading all the Dickens books I've read!