<p>"Writing about people whose circumstances were deplorable, Dickens used the novel to protest social conditions in Victorian England"
a) writing about
b) whose circumstances
c) were deplorable
d) to protest</p>
<p>Apparently the sentence is correct. However, because "people" are from a book, shouldn't it be "are" rather than "were"? I learned that all books are always referred to in the present tense. </p>
<p>No. This is not a reference to an event or character in a book, but a general reference to people in the past (the subject of many of his books). </p>
<p>Present tense (a character in the novel is …): “Scrooge is a cold-hearted miser. Dickens used his character to protest …”</p>
<p>Past tense (a historical event was): “The price of London’s explosive growth was untold squalor and filth which Dickens used …”</p>