DICKENS: THE MAN, THE NOVELS, THE AGE

Despite the somewhat daunting sub-title, this book is a magnificent tribute to an intriguing personality and a Victorian writer whose books have never been out of print, writes Roger Paine.

Dickens’s ideals were far ahead of the age in which he lived. It might be reasonable therefore to ask if there is anything new to discover about this man who remains as popular as he was in his lifetime? The answer is, yes, a great deal.

Written by Lucinda Dickens Hawksley, Charles’s great-greatgreat granddaughter, the book is produced in association with the Charles Dickens Museum.

But this is no simple hagiography. Instead, the author relates the story from Dickens’s impoverished childhood and the shame of his father being incarcerated in a debtors’ prison to his eventual best-selling career as a writer and celebrity reader of his own stories to packed theatres across the USA.

In nearly 40 succinctly written chapters she reveals how real-life incidents and people were introduced into his novels and how these intertwined relationships, especially with actors and artists, and his own long-running affair with actress Ellen Ternan, had such an influence on his writing.

The book brings to life the many facets that shaped Dickens and focuses a spotlight on his role as father, husband, friend, lover, sibling and son. With superbly produced photographs and facsimiles of unpublished contemporary documents, this book provides an intimate portrait of a man whose writing has attracted millions of readers for nearly two centuries. Welbeck Publishing, £20

ISBN: 9-780-2330-06055