Where is the Main Character?

It isn't often that I get to thinking about the trustworthiness of an author. I usually have a feeling of being able to rely on an author if I consistently love their works. But Dickens makes me contemplate what it means to trust an author.

So far I have been able to trust Dickens to carry me through an epic length novel without losing my interest in the story or my investment of feeling into the characters. At this point, I can trust him to deliver a good story chock full of characters to love. Now, I know I can trust him to bring me through the first forty pages of a book in which I have yet to meet the main character.

I expect to meet the main character of a book within the first few pages and realized that after reading the first two chapters of Little Dorrit, I still hadn't met Little Dorrit. Let me tell you, I wanted to meet this chick, because after reading reviews on blogs and on amazon, I wanted nothing more than to get to know this character created by Dickens. So after waiting the few days to receive the book in the mail and setting it aside until all were tucked in bed, I began this book and found myself not in England but on the hottest day in Marseilles, and not meeting Dorrit but two of the scrungiest prisoners this side of Magwitch.

But what do I care? I am now on page 41, in London, with a promise of meeting Dorrit soon made on page 40. I am once again lost in a world of Dickens making and he can do with me as he pleases. One thing I know now is not to have any expectations, great or small, when it comes to Dickens. I should have known better to have expectations regarding Dorrit when, looking back, I have come to love the peripheral characters most...Wemmick in Great Expectations and Betsey Trotwood in David Copperfield...and now we will see with Little Dorrit.