Charles Dickens's last serious story was George Silverman's Explanation, written in 1868. As literature, it provides a terrific sense of his mature artistry as well as his increasingly sombre view of the world and the society in which he lived.

George Silverman's Explanation, published in instalments from January to March 1868, was one of the last pieces of fiction written by Charles Dickens, two years before his death. It is an extraordinary tale, unlike anything else he wrote. It is the story of boy who escapes poverty and death to become a priest, with a successful living. Yet he is haunted by taunts that his mother made in childhood.

Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812–9 June 1874) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's most well-known fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented popularity, and by the twentieth century he was widely seen as a literary genius by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular.