This must be the fifth or sixth time I've read David Copperfield since first encountering him at school nearly fifty years ago. Each reading has brought out different aspects of the book, illuminated by my own life experience. For me it's not Dickens best book ("Bleak House" is my pick) or indeed his best story (I'd go for "A Tale of Two Cities"), but it is a masterful weaving of narrative strands into a cohesive and ultimately satisfying whole, a success made all the more improbable because of the autobiographical nature of much of the material.