The Mystery of Charles Dickens

I saw this in a charity shop. My partner and I had been watching a number of Dickens adaptions, and my interest was piqued. Then I put it back, uncertain. Then I picked it up again because I realised I did want to know more about Charles Dickens. 

But the book turned out to be about much more than that cherished author; it’s about the relationship between personal psychological pain and the brilliance of creativity. It theorises that, without his anguished childhood, Dickens would not have been so brilliant an author. This book speaks to everyone who wishes to tell… show more.

Dickens created a panoply of over-the-top characters scripted for dramatic and comedic acting out in readers’ heads and in Victorian parlors where parents read his books aloud to their families. Dickens, too, could not resist acting his part as the famous author portraying his characters. With his vast talent and imagination and his theatrical inclinations, he toured himself to exhaustion performing his works before crowds of transfixed fans. This page-turner of a biography delves into a series of mysteries in the novelist’s life, including that of his public readings, which may have contributed to the curious circumstances of his death—all… show more.