Bleak House being raised by Miss Barbary, Lady Dedlock's sister. Esther does not know Miss Barbary is her aunt. After Miss Barbary dies, John Jarndyce becomes Esther's guardian and assigns the Chancery lawyer "Conversation" Kenge to take charge of her future. After attending school for six years, Esther moves in with him at Bleak House. Jarndyce simultaneously assumes custody of two other wards, Richard Carstone and Ada Clare (who are both his and one another's distant cousins). They are beneficiaries in one of the wills at issue in "Jarndyce and Jarndyce"; their guardian is a beneficiary under another will, and the two
My Companions in the Bleak House herself held there for eleven months in for sedition after signing Charter 77, which criticised the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic for human rights failings related to the Helsinki Accords. Kantůrková herself does not appear in the book, which is narrated by a character called Eva. The title is a reference to Charles Dickens' novel "Bleak House", which satirised the English justice system. In the book, Kantůrková spells out seven rules for life as a prisoner of conscience: The narrative takes place from 8 March to 8 March, beginning and ending on International Women's Day. Aspects of the characters' prison life include