MYSTERY OF CHARLES DICKENS (PB)

Charles Dickens suffered a wretched childhood, but grew up to become an artist, entertainer and campaigner of prodigious popularity. He knew at first hand the poverty and pain his characters endured, including the scandal of a failed marriage. Going beyond standard narrative biography, A N Wilson revisits the wellspring of Dickens's vast and wild imagination, revealing why his novels had such an immediate appeal and why they continue to resonate today. He also uncovers the double standards of both the man and his times.