David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”
David Copperfield lives happily with his mother until she decides to marry the tyrannical Edward Murdstone. Abused and ill-treated by his stepfather, David is sent to the Salem House, a boarding school where he makes friends with the self-centred James Steerforth and the hapless Tom Taddles.