Description
Book SynopsisA TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
The year is 1851. It's a time of radical change in Britain, when industrial miracles and artistic innovations rub shoulders with political unrest, poverty and disease. It's also a turbulent time in the life of Charles Dickens, as he copes with a double bereavement and early signs that his marriage is falling apart. But this year will become the turning point in Dickens's career, as he embraces his calling as a chronicler of ordinary people's lives.
The Turning Point transports us into the foggy streets of Dickens's London, closely following the twists and turns of a year that would come to define him, and forever alter Britain's relationship with the world.
'Sparklingly informative' Guardian
'Wonderfully entertaining' Observer
'It is hard to imagine a better book on Dickens' New Statesman
Trade ReviewThis tremendous book
dazzles and delights... it's full of discoveries.
A glorious book; revealing and unravelling Charles Dickens before our very eyes, melding his life and his work,
using scholarship, wit and passion - a triumph. * Miriam Margolyes *
This immersive biography, by the author of the Costa-shortlisted
The Story of Alice,
had me hooked... published in a sumptuous package, with illustrations throughout. * The Bookseller, Editor’s Choice *
Clever and witty, packed with fiercely academic research and erudite analysis, but written in featherlight, elegant prose. -- Natalie Haynes
The Turning Point...builds incrementally towards
Bleak House...[and]
makes for a very satisfying finale... Robert Douglas-Fairhurst has taken pains of his own and this
wonderfully entertaining book is the result. -- Anthony Quinn * Observer *
Douglas-Fairhurst is a shrewd, amusing and original guide... [he] gives you fascinating facts... [and] a brisk and brilliant analysis of Bleak House. -- Laura Freeman * The Times *
