Charles Dickens

by Christopher Hibbert

With passion and wit, Christopher Hibbert details the crucial years that formed Dickens the writer and Dickens the man. He explains how Dickens transferred the smallest fragments of his experience to his fiction, and how he interpreted his youth for both himself and his readers, throwing a clear light on the creative process and sources of literary imagination. An illuminating look at a complex and baffling person, fans of literary biography will relish Hibbert's acclaimed style as he delivers the fascinating tale of Dickens' development.

Praise for Christopher Hibbert: 'Hibbert is a remarkably prolific popular historian, who can take on almost anything, from Dickens to General Wolfe, from Agincourt to Garibaldi' - The Observer '[Hibbert] is a superbly skillful historical writer' - The Spectator

CHRISTPOHER HIBBERT was born in 1924 and educated at Radley and Oxford, UK. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the author of many highly acclaimed books, including Disraeli, Edward VII, George VI, The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici; The English: A Social History; and Cavaliers and Roundheads.

Author's Note The Better World 1812-1822 Warren's Blacking 1823-1824 Wellington House Academy 1824-1827 Messrs Ellis& Blackmore 1827-1827 Miss Maria Beadnell 1828-1833 The Chronicle Reporter 1833-1835 Miss Catherine Hogarth 1835-1836 The Inimitable Boz 1836-1837 Miss Mary Hogarth 1837 The Novelist Triumphant 1837-1839 Mrs Charles Dickens 1839-1845 Epilogue: 'You don't object to an aged parent, I hope?' References and Notes Sources Index