" He knew them inside out. You may say his characters are overdrawn—the bad ones too bad and the good ones too good—but that’s a healthy way to see people, Kirke. In modern novels the good and the bad are mixed up so you never know where you are. More often than not the hero behaves like a cad and you’re expected to like him just the same. Give me Dickens,” said Mr. Coe earnestly. “ I know where I am with Dickens. The hero is good and the villain is bad—that’s what I like. "

― D.E. Stevenson , Five Windows