This provocative biography tells the story of how an ambitious young Londoner became England's greatest novelist. Focused on the 1830s, it portrays a restless, uncertain Dickens who could not decide on a career path. Through twists and turns, the author traces a double transformation: in reinventing himself Dickens reinvented the form of the novel.
Rightly rejecting familiar accounts of Charles Dickens's life, Douglas-Fairhurst's biography shows us the forlorn and driven young Dickens who tried his hand at the law, journalism and acting before finally committing to a career as a writer. A ' revealing and groundbreaking study, which succeeds by focusing, narrowly, on the early years in Dickens' career as a writer in the 1830s' "New York Times"
