Widely regarded as Dickens's masterpiece, Bleak House centers on the generations-long lawsuit Jarndyce and Jarndyce, through which "whole families have inherited legendary hatreds." Focusing on Esther Summerson, a ward of John Jarndyce, the novel traces Esther's romantic coming-of-age and, in classic Dickensian style, the gradual revelation of long-buried secrets, all set against the foggy backdrop of the Court of Chancery. Mixing romance, mystery, comedy, and satire, Bleak House limns the suffering caused by the intricate inefficiency of the law.
多数评论家如萧伯纳、却斯特顿、康拉德、崔尔琳、吉辛(George Gissing) 等人皆认为这部小说是“创下小说写作高峰”,也是第一本“法律小说”。却斯特顿认为本书是狄更斯最好的小说(Bleak House' is not certainly Dickens's best book; but perhaps it is his best novel.)