Nicholas Nickleby or, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby is Charles Dickens's third novel, and is the first of Dickens's romances. The novel centers on the life and adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, a young man very inexperienced of the world, naïve, and emotional. Nicholas Nickleby's father dies unexpectedly after losing all of his money in a poor investment. Nicholas, his mother and his younger sister, Kate, are forced to give up their comfortable lifestyle in Devonshire and travel to London to seek the aid of their only relative, Nicholas's uncle, Ralph Nickleby. Ralph, a cold and ruthless businessman. Nicholas Nickleby is an episodic and humorous novel, with an ironic social satire tone. Dickens takes aim at what he perceives to be social injustices. When it was originally published in 1839, the book was an immediate and complete success and established Dickens's lasting reputation.**