Charles Dickens's third novel, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1838–1839), develops the theme of an unhappy childhood begun a year earlier in Oliver Twist. The book follows the fate of a young man who, after the death of his father, is sent by his wealthy, greedy, and cruel uncle, Ralph Nickleby, to teach at Dotheboys Hall Academy, a rural boys' boarding school in Yorkshire. Outraged by the harsh educational methods at Dotheboys Hall, which resembles a prison more than a school, Nicholas escapes in the company of a feeble-minded street urchin, Smike. Thus begins the protagonist's journey, during which he will meet the dirty politician Gregsbury, become an actor in a traveling theater, work as a clerk in the office of the wealthy merchants the Cheeryble brothers, and learn a shameful secret from his uncle's past - a secret long hidden from Ralph Nickleby himself...