Search results for ""author charles dickens"

An accessible and reliable introduction to the life and works of Charles Dickens, offering a unique combination of academic biography and literary analysis The Life of the Author: Charles Dickens explores the relationship between Dickens’ lived experience and his works, discussing themes within and key influences on literary classics such as Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Nicholas Nickleby, and Great Expectations. An excellent introduction to the world of Dickens scholarship, this easily accessible volume provides the necessary background about the author’s life while encouraging readers to critically analyze Dickens’ works. Organized thematically by chapter, the book opens with a brief overview of Dickens’ life and a chronology of major works. Subsequent chapters focus on key aspects of Dickens’ life, concluding with case studies of selected texts that demonstrate the similarities between events in Dickens’ own life and the literature he was writing at the time. Throughout the book, readers are provided with an informative portrait of Dickens’ early family life, personal relationships, professional networks, social circles, travels abroad, charitable works, financial issues, dealings with publishers, and much more. Incorporates the latest discussions in Dickens research alongside documents and materials from Dickens’ time Discusses the afterlife of Dickens in film, theater, and television, including A Christmas Carol, Dickens’ most adapted story Features archival material from the Charles Dickens Museum and discussion of Dickens’ roles as a journalist, editor, and professional reader Includes short case studies at the end of each chapter to demonstrate the ways Dickens’ life informed his work The Life of the Author: Charles Dickens is an ideal introductory textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in English Literature and Victorian Literature courses, as well as a valuable resource for Dickens scholars and enthusiasts.

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This attractive poster features a concise introduction to Charles Dickens, alongside a timeline putting the author's life events in their national and political context. Photographs and illustrations include the original title page of 'Nicholas Nickleby' and portraits of significant figures in Dickens' life, whilst detailed information is organised into the topics: early life; becoming a writer; realism in writing; Dickens and the theatre; public readings; chronology of novels; social conditions; private life; Dickens in America; odd names of some Dickens characters; travels abroad; Dickens' London. Trivia about the author will help to ignite children's curiosity.

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An exuberant and entertaining biography of Charles Dickens that captures the essence of the great novelist. Simon Callow‘s sparkling biography explores the central importance of the theatre to the life of the greatest storyteller in the English language. From his early years as a child entertainer in Portsmouth to his reluctant retirement from ‘these garish lights’ just before his death, Dickens was obsessed with the stage. Not only was he a dazzling mimic who wrote, acted in and stage-managed plays, all with fanatical perfectionism; as a writer he was a compulsive performer, whose very imagination was theatrical, both in terms of plot devices and construction of character. Like many actors, Dickens felt the need to be completed by contact with his audience. He was the original ‘celebrity’ author, who attracted thousands of adoring fans to his readings in Britain and across the Atlantic, in which he gave voice to his unforgettable cast of characters. In Charles Dickens, Callow brings his own unique insight to a life driven by performance and showmanship. He reveals an exuberant and irrepressible talent, whose ‘inimitable’ wit and personality crackle off the page.

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Charles Dickens is the acclaimed definitive biography by bestselling author Claire Tomalin Charles Dickens was a phenomenon: a demonicly hardworking journalist, the father of ten children, a tireless walker and traveller, a supporter of liberal social causes, but most of all a great novelist - the creator of characters who live immortally in the English imagination: the Artful Dodger, Mr Pickwick, Pip, David Copperfield, Little Nell, Lady Dedlock, and many more.At the age of twelve he was sent to work in a blacking factory by his affectionate but feckless parents. From these unpromising beginnings, he rose to scale all the social and literary heights, entirely through his own efforts. When he died, the world mourned, and he was buried - against his wishes - in Westminster Abbey.Yet the brilliance concealed a divided character: a republican, he disliked America; sentimental about the family in his writings, he took up passionately with a young actress; usually generous, he cut off his impecunious children. From the award-winning author of Samuel Pepys, Charles Dickens: A Life paints an unforgettable portrait of Dickens, capturing brilliantly the complex character of this great genius. If you loved Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol, this book is invaluable reading.'By far the most humane and imaginatively sympathetic account yet for the general reader' Amanda Craig, New Statesman

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Superb, highly accessible biography of one of the giants of English literature by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A THOUSAND ACRES'Engaging and stimulating' Simon Callow'Jane Smiley, in her admirable contribution to Weidenfeld's series of short biographies, deals briskly with Dickens's career and works, and treats with sympathy and sense his relations with the women in his life' LITERARY REVIEWFrom a bitter and poverty-stricken childhood to a career as the most acclaimed and best loved writer in the English-speaking world, Charles Dickens had a life as full of incident as any of those he created in his novels of life in Victorian England. The enormous quantity of work, his public readings and his difficult relationships has made him a figure of enduring fascination. In this biography Jane Smiley reveals Charles Dickens as his contemporaries would have done, getting to know him more intimately than ever before. At the same time Smiley offers interpretations of almost all of Dickens' major works, showing how 'his novels shaped his life as much as his life shaped his novels'.

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A magnificent new biography of the man who gave us David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, and Ebenezer Scrooge This long-awaited biography, twenty years after the last major account, uncovers Dickens the man through the profession in which he excelled. Drawing on a lifetime’s study of this prodigiously brilliant figure, Michael Slater explores the personal and emotional life, the high-profile public activities, the relentless travel, the charitable works, the amateur theatricals and the astonishing productivity. But the core focus is Dickens’ career as a writer and professional author, covering not only his big novels but also his phenomenal output of other writing--letters, journalism, shorter fiction, plays, verses, essays, writings for children, travel books, speeches, and scripts for his public readings, and the relationships among them.Slater’s account, rooted in deep research but written with affection, clarity, and economy, illuminates the context of each of the great novels while locating the life of the author within the imagination that created them. It highlights Dickens’ boundless energy, his passion for order and fascination with disorder, his organizational genius, his deep concern for the poor and outrage at indifference towards them, his susceptibility towards young women, his love of Christmas and fairy tales, and his hatred of tyranny.Richly and precisely illustrated with many rare images, this masterly work on the complete Dickens, man and writer, becomes the indispensable guide and companion to one of the greatest novelists in the language.

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The inimitable Charles Dickens is regarded by many as the finest novelist of the Victorian era. His ability to weave magic with words makes him as popular as ever. Born in 1812 in what many would describe as humble circumstances, he went on to create some of the world’s best-known fictional characters in his impressive collection of novels. It is a testament to his huge following that when he died just over 150 years ago in June 1870, his grave at Westminster Abbey was kept open for three days so the many thousands of people who mourned his passing could pay their last respects. It has been said that Dickens’ geographical knowledge of London was both extensive and encyclopaedic; he knew it all, from Bow to Brentford. He drew his knowledge from experience: he visited the magistrates’ courts, observed the poverty and injustice of the workhouses and prisons, and was a hearty campaigner for the wretched and downtrodden. Here was the man who brought Scrooge to the Christmas table, and he never left. The place that inspired Dickens during his most prolific writing was, of course, good old London Town. Join us as we mark the sesquicentennial anniversary of his death and explore Charles Dickens’ very own landscape.

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Adapted from Dickens' works of fiction, this story imagines his life at a young age before he became a celebrated author.

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A page-turning account of the scandal that almost ruined Dickens and how the story disappeared from history Charles Dickens was regarded as the great proponent of hearth and home in Victorian Britain, but in 1858 this image was nearly shattered. With the breakup of his marriage that year, rumors of a scandalous relationship he may have conducted with the young actress Ellen "Nelly" Ternan flourished. For the remaining twelve years of his life, Dickens managed to contain the gossip. After his death, surviving family members did the same. But when the author's last living son died in 1934, there was no one to discourage rampant speculation. Dramatic revelations came from every corner—over Nelly's role as Dickens's mistress, their clandestine meetings, and even about his possibly fathering an illegitimate child by her.This book presents the most complete account of the scandal and ensuing cover-up ever published. Drawing on the author's letters and other archival sources not previously available, Dickens scholar Michael Slater investigates what Dickens did or may have done, then traces the way the scandal was elaborated over succeeding generations. Slater shows how various writers concocted outlandish yet plausible theories while newspapers and book publishers vied for sensational revelations. With its tale of intrigue and a cast of well-known figures from Thackeray and Shaw to Orwell and Edmund Wilson, this engaging book will delight not only Dickens fans but also readers who appreciate tales of mystery, cover-up, and clever detection.

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A Book of the Year in The Times & Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Spectator, Irish Times and TLS. 'Superb' Daily Mail, 'Book of the Week''Brilliant' The Times, 'Book of the Week''[A] vivid, detailed account' Guardian, 'Book of the Week''Hugely enjoyable' Daily Telegraph'Fascinating' SpectatorCharles Dickens was a superb public performer, a great orator and one of the most famous of the Eminent Victorians. Slight of build, with a frenzied, hyper-energetic personality, Dickens looked much older than his fifty-eight years when he died. Although he specified an unpretentious funeral, it was inevitable that crowds flocked to his open grave in Westminster Abbey. Experiencing the worst and best of life during the Victorian Age, Dickens was not merely the conduit through whom some of the most beloved characters in literature came into the world. He was one of them.Filled with twists, pathos and unusual characters, The Mystery of Charles Dickens looks back from the legendary writer's death to recall the key events in his life. In doing so, A. N. Wilson seeks to understand Dickens's creative genius and enduring popularity. Following him from cradle to grave, it becomes clear that Dickens's fiction drew from his own experiences - a fact he acknowledged. Like Oliver Twist, Dickens suffered a wretched childhood, then grew up to become not only a respectable gentleman but an artist of prodigious popularity. Dickens knew firsthand the poverty and pain his characters endured, including the scandal of a failed marriage.Going beyond standard narrative biography, Wilson brilliantly revisits the wellspring of Dickens's vast and wild imagination, revealing why his novels have such instantaneous appeal and why they continue to resonate today. He also uncovers the double standards of both the man and his times.

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1000-PIECE PUZZLE: The 1000-piece puzzle reimagines Dickens'' life and scenes from his novels in glorious detail BEAUTIFUL, INTRICATE ILLUSTRATIONS: Spot famous fictional characters, fellow writers, and historical characters as you build the puzzle POSTER INCLUDED: Includes fun Dickens facts on a fold-out poster EASY HANDLING: The 1000 puzzle pieces are thick and sturdy. The completed puzzle measures A2 in size and the jigsaw puzzle box measures 267 x 267 x 48 mm GIFT: The perfect gift for Dickens fans or those who want to spend time away from their screensThe 1000-piece The World of Charles Dickens jigsaw puzzle by Laurence King Publishing is a puzzler''s dream. Jigsaw puzzles are back as a wellness trend and this beautifully illustrated one is sure to help you relax while immersing yourself in Dickens''s legendary London. Will you brave the back alleys to find Fagin''s den, or risk Scrooge''s scowl at the counting hou

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Charles Dickens

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This unique volume of autograph letters, portraits, illustrations, and other materials is made up of materials from the John M. Patterson Dickens Archive, as well as items relating to the life and literary work of Charles Dickens housed at the Grolier Club. In addition to a catalogue of the exhibition materials on display at a 2006 Grolier Club exhibition, The Extraordinary Life of Charles Dickens contains an introduction, an explanation of the John Patterson and Dickens Archive, an essay on the development of the Patterson Archive, and a short retrospective on Patterson.

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The Oxford Handbook of Charles Dickens is a comprehensive and up-to-date collection on Dickens's life and works. It includes original chapters on all of Dickens's writing and new considerations of his contexts, from the social, political, and economic to the scientific, commercial, and religious. The contributions speak in new ways about his depictions of families, environmental degradation, and improvements of the industrial age, as well as the law, charity, and communications. His treatment of gender, his mastery of prose in all its varieties and genres, and his range of affects and dramatization all come under stimulating reconsideration. His understanding of British history, of empire and colonization, of his own nation and foreign ones, and of selfhood and otherness, like all the other topics, is explained in terms easy to comprehend and profoundly relevant to global modernity.

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Think you already know the story of Charles Dickens' life? Think again.Almost everything you're familiar with was first mentioned in an authorised biography written by Dickens' close friend John Forster 150 years ago. It's the version of events that Dickens himself chose to make public, and newly accessible archives reveal that it's crammed with gaps, inconsistencies, and outright lies. There's the sister whose existence Dickens kept secret and the Jewish relations whose faith he strove to conceal. There's plagiarism, fraud, and suicide.And that's only for starters. Helena Kelly, author of the acclaimed Jane Austen, the Secret Radical, retells Dickens' story from his childhood to his deathbed, uncovers the truths he tried to keep hidden, and offers a fresh - and deeply troubling - perspective on the man who remains one of Britain's best-known novelists.You won't be able to look at him - or his work - in the same way again.

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Charles Dickens is credited with creating some of the world's best-known fictional characters, and is widely regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian age. Even before reading the works of Dickens many people have met him already in some form or another. His characters have such vitality that they have leapt from his pages to enjoy flourishing lives of their own: The Artful Dodger, Miss Havisham, Scrooge, Fagin, Mr Micawber, and many many more. His portrait has been in our pockets, on our ten-pound notes; he is a national icon, indeed himself a generator of what Englishness signifies. In this Very Short Introduction Jenny Hartley explores the key themes running through Dickens's corpus of works, and considers how they reflect his attitudes towards the harsh realities of nineteenth century society and its institutions, such as the workhouses and prisons. Running alonside this is Dickens's relish of the carnivalesque; if there is a prison in almost every novel, there is also a theatre. She considers Dickens's multiple lives and careers: as magazine editor for two thirds of his working life, as travel writer and journalist, and his work on behalf of social causes including ragged schools and fallen women. She also shows how his public readings enthralled the readers he wanted to reach but also helped to kill him. Finally, Hartley considers what we mean when we use the term 'Dickensian' today, and how Dickens's enduring legacy marks him out as as a novelist different in kind from others. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable. · This book was previously published in hardback as Charles Dickens: An Introduction

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This miscellany explores the staggeringly busy and diverse life of Charles Dickens, giving readers the chance to get to know the man through his work and its major themes. With carefully chosen quotations from the novels, but also from his sketches and journalism, discover what Dickens had to say about the big issues like crime, the family, education and money. Meet here, too, those wonderful characters that have been handed down to us like the real figures of history – Mr Micawber, Fagin, Miss Havisham, David Copperfield and many more. So what is it that made Dickens special? This miscellany offers an insight into all the mad humour, passionate indignation, moral conviction, plain good sense and sheer unstoppable energy that made up one of the very greatest of English writers.

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Sixteen scholars from across the globe come together in Charles Dickens as an Agent of Change to show how Dickens was (and still is) the consummate change agent. His works, bursting with restless energy in the Inimitable's protean style, registered and commented on the ongoing changes in the Victorian world while the Victorians' fictional and factional worlds kept (and keep) changing. The essays from notable Dickens scholars—Malcolm Andrews, Matthias Bauer, Joel J. Brattin, Doris Feldmann, Herbert Foltinek, Robert Heaman, Michael Hollington, Bert Hornback, Norbert Lennartz, Chris Louttit, Jerome Meckier, Nancy Aycock Metz, David Paroissien, Christopher Pittard, and Robert Tracy—suggest the many ways in which the notion of change has found entry into and is negotiated in Dickens' works through four aspects: social change, political and ideological change, literary change, and cultural change. An afterword by the late Edgar Rosenberg adds a personal account of how Dickens changed the life of one eminent Dickensian.

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This paperback will feature three Christmas-themed stories by the author, led by "The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton," a tale acknowledged as a precursor to Dickens's beloved classic A Christmas Carol. Other featured stories include "What Christmas Is as We Grow Older" and "A Christmas Dinner."

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A Companion to Charles Dickens concentrates on the historical, ideological, and social forces that defined Dickens’s world. Puts Dickens’s work into its literary, historical, and social contexts Traces the development of Dickens’s career as a journalist and novelist Includes original essays by leading Dickensian scholars on each of Dickens’s fifteen novels Explores a broad range of topics, including criticisms of his novels, the use of history and law in his fiction, language, and the effect of political and social reform Examines Dickens's legacy and surveys the mass of secondary materials that has been generated in response and reverence to his writing

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54-CARD DECK: A set of playing cards featuring illustrations of Dickens' most famous characters. Features standard playing card suits, numbers and court cardsFUN, COLOURFUL ILLUSTRATIONS: Illustrator Barry Falls perfectly captures Dickens' most memorable characters. Suits are themed on character traits, with hearts for the Heroines and Heroes and spades for the Villains and RevengersBOOKLET INCLUDED: The accompanying booklet includes information about each character and an introduction to contemporary card games and their mentions in Dickens' novelsEASY HANDLING: The cards will not crack or bend when shuffled or flexed. Neatly boxed, these cards are perfect for taking anywhere on the goPERFECT GIFT FOR BOOK LOVERS: Charles Dickens Playing Cards make the perfect gift for any bookwormLAURENCE KING PUBLISHING has been capturing imaginations and inspiring creativity in new and unexpected ways for over 30 years, with playful and eye-catching games, gifts and booksPlay cards with Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger, keep your eye on Scrooge and Uriah Heep as 'Ace' Villains, and have a game of 'Beggar My Neighbour' with Pip and Estella. This playing card deck features 54 of Dickens' most memorable characters and includes an introduction to Victorian card games in the accompanying booklet.

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In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy bestselling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Charles Dickens, the influential author. When Charles was a boy he made up his own adventures. But after a Dickensian twist of fate saw his father go to prison for debt, Charles ended up working in a factory with other children. He worked his way out, trying his hand in a law firm, and then as an actor, before making a name for himself as a reporter and gifted storyteller. Charles became one of the most beloved novelists of all time, aware of the power of a tale and of giving poor children a voice. This moving book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the writer's life. Little People, BIG DREAMS is a bestselling biography series for kids that explores the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream. This empowering series of books offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardback and paperback versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. With rewritten text for older children, the treasuries each bring together a multitude of dreamers in a single volume. You can also collect a selection of the books by theme in boxed gift sets. Activity books and a journal provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!

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Charles Dickens is a much-loved author for his vast and important contributions to English literature. This collection brings together his supernatural short stories, some of which were included in his longer works, and others that originally featured in magazines, including ‘The Bagman’s Story’, ‘The Ghost in the Bride’s Chamber’ and ‘To Be Read at Dusk’, among others. They are all fantastically gripping stories from one of the greatest writers of all-time. Essential collaborations with his acolytes Wilkie Collins and Elizabeth Gaskell are also included.

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Following Charles Dickens’s death, his friend and biographer, John Forster, discovers a ‘lost’ manuscript that provides a radically different view of the year the young author spent working in a blacking factory. But is the account fact or fiction? In the 1820s the Dickens family arrive to start a new life in London . Charles (‘Charley’) is just eleven and looking to continue his education. However, instead of being sent to school – and as his family fall deeply into debt – he is put to work in a boot-blacking factory at Hungerford Stairs. With his father soon cast into the Marshalsea debtors prison, Charley’s eagerness to earn an extra shilling sees him drawn into a criminal network led by the dark figure of Mr Magnus. The combination of demeaning factory work with this new and dangerous criminal activity places a huge burden on Charley, at a time when his mother and siblings are increasingly dependent on him. Life becomes even more complicated when Charley is approached by the mysterious Mr Hesketh. How can the future novelist balance the demands of family, paid work and the London underworld amidst a situation that moves swiftly from casual abuse to violence, and ultimately the hangman’s noose?

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Think you already know the story of Charles Dickens' life? Think again. Almost everything you're familiar with was first mentioned in an authorised biography written by Dickens' close friend John Forster 150 years ago. It's the version of events that Dickens himself chose to make public, and newly accessible archives reveal that it's crammed with gaps, inconsistencies, and outright lies. There's the sister whose existence Dickens kept secret and the Jewish relations whose faith he strove to conceal. There's plagiarism, fraud, and suicide. And that's only for starters. Helena Kelly, author of the acclaimed Jane Austen, the Secret Radical, retells Dickens' story from his childhood to his deathbed, uncovers the truths he tried to keep hidden, and offers a fresh - and deeply troubling - perspective on the man who remains one of Britain's best-known novelists. You won't be able to look at him - or his work - in the same way again.

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Charles Dickens is the definitive illustrated guide to the man and his works with images of documents from Dickens' personal archive written by one of descendants. It follows Dickens from early childhood, including his time spent as a child labourer, and looks at how he became the greatest celebrity of his age - and how he still remains recognized as one of England's greatest names, even in the 21st century. It takes an intimate look at what he was like as a husband, a father, a friend and an employer; his longing to be an actor; his travels across North America; his year spent living in Italy; and his great love of France. Alongside Dickens himself, readers will meet his fascinating family and his astonishing circle of friends - and will discover when and how life and real-life personalities were imitated in Dickens's art. The cast of characters in Charles Dickens embraces an incredible array of famous, and occasionally infamous, Victorians.

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A personal approach to Dickens's art that pays attention to what magnetizes Federico or strikes her as newly relevant to our own world, and to her life, as she explores what Dickens' works are emotionally about. Dickens's first concern in all his fiction is with people's feelings and their imaginations. Everything else--the social criticism, the satire, the comedy--flows from that spring. How does a person begin to imagine, to enter vividly into the life he or she has been given, and into the lives of others? How does someone change, how do they love, give their trust, look forward to the future? These questions make their way into all of Dickens's novels, including the four discussed in this contribution to the My Reading series: Oliver Twist (1837-39), David Copperfield (1849-50), Little Dorrit (1855-57), and A Tale of Two Cities (1859). Consistent with the aims of the series, this book takes a personal approach to Dickens's art. Federico follows her own responses, paying attention to what magnetizes her or strikes her as newly relevant to our own world, and to her life. What is the story emotionally about? This becomes the important question as she reads through Dickens's works. It is the question that opens the door to her own memories, her own stories, as she grows from being an innocent reader of Dickens to a more critical, professionalized one--while still listening confidentially to what Dickens has to teach her about hope, love, and the limits of knowledge.

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Sixteen scholars from across the globe come together in Charles Dickens as an Agent of Change to show how Dickens was (and still is) the consummate change agent. His works, bursting with restless energy in the Inimitable's protean style, registered and commented on the ongoing changes in the Victorian world while the Victorians' fictional and factional worlds kept (and keep) changing. The essays from notable Dickens scholars—Malcolm Andrews, Matthias Bauer, Joel J. Brattin, Doris Feldmann, Herbert Foltinek, Robert Heaman, Michael Hollington, Bert Hornback, Norbert Lennartz, Chris Louttit, Jerome Meckier, Nancy Aycock Metz, David Paroissien, Christopher Pittard, and Robert Tracy—suggest the many ways in which the notion of change has found entry into and is negotiated in Dickens' works through four aspects: social change, political and ideological change, literary change, and cultural change. An afterword by the late Edgar Rosenberg adds a personal account of how Dickens changed the life of one eminent Dickensian.

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This book reappraises Dickens's Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi and his imaginative engagement with its principal protagonist.

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This book reappraises Dickens's Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi and his imaginative engagement with its principal protagonist.

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A hardback, illustrated adaptation of Charles Dickens's Victorian classic – at an easy-to-read level for readers of all ages! Who can help a mean old man to love Christmas? How about a ghost? (…or three!) Scrooge’s heart is colder than snow, he’s richer than half the banks in England and meaner than, well, everyone. But when three seriously spooky ghosts turn up to take him on an adventure through time, he soon learns that being cold isn’t cool. Can he change his ways before it’s too late? About The Charles Dickens Children's Collection: Bah humbug! Who says the classics are just for adults? Join Ebenezer Scrooge on his ghostly Christmas adventure, or follow orphaned Oliver Twist from rags to riches in some of literature's most famous tales from the foggy streets of Victorian London.

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What was it like to be Charles Dickens? His letters are the nearest we can get to a Dickens autobiography: vivid close-up snapshots of a life lived at maximum intensity. This is the first selection to be made from the magisterial twelve-volume British Academy Pilgrim Edition of his letters. From over fourteen thousand, four hundred and fifty have been cherry-picked to give readers the best essence of 'the Sparkler of Albion'. Dickens was a man with ten times the energy of ordinary mortals. There seem to have been twice the number of hours in his day, and he threw himself into letter-writing as he did into everything else. This eagerly awaited selection takes us straight to the heart of his life, to show us Dickens at first hand. Here he is writing out of the heat of the moment: as a novelist, journalist, and magazine editor; as a social campaigner and traveller in Europe and America, and as friend, lover, husband, and father. Reading and writing letters punctuated the rhythms of Dickens's day. 'I walk about brimful of letters', he told a friend. He claimed to write 'at the least, a dozen a day'. Sometimes it was a chore but more often a pleasure: an outlet for high spirits, sparkling wit, and caustic commentary - always as seen through his highly individual and acutely observing eye. Whether you dip in or read straight through, this selection of his letters creates afresh the brilliance of being Dickens, and the sheer pleasure of being in his company.

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"Deeply respecting, and bowing down before the character of Our Saviour, you cannot go very wrong, and will always preserve at heart a true spirit of veneration and humility." Charles Dickens Charles Dickens was a great storyteller; he possessed the unique ability of documenting the realities of life for both his contemporaries and future generations. A journalist, commentator, historian, and the social conscience of a nation, his influence and reach extended far beyond that normally associated with a novelist. Although the subject of numerous books, none have sought to detail how the writer tried through his work to change the hearts of his readers. In this authoritative and highly readable new biography, Keith Hooper explores the nature and development of Dickens's faith, and the means by which it was expressed. This excellent study of Dickens's beliefs and struggles with the contemporary church gives new and valuable insight into his literary work.

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