Mr Douglas-Fairhurst covers much ground, but one of his central ideas is Dickens's pervasive sense of what might have been.

道格拉斯·菲赫斯特用了不少篇幅讨论这一点，但是书中另一个主要观点是狄更斯时时刻刻感觉到事物本应如此却奈何那样。