Dickens
thought he was on top of his game, but with Martin Chuzzlewit
unpopular with the public his publishers are not happy. He
is told to write something for Christmas, but he only has
a short time to do this and bills to pay. Meanwhile, his family
and friends all expect him to come up with the funds for an
epic Christmas, so no wonder it all gets to be too much for
him and he wants out…
This book is best read on a winter evening by the fire, telling
as it does of ghosts, mysteries and, of course, Christmas.
Maybe this is not quite what befell Dickens as he wrote A
Christmas Carol, but it is certainly in the spirit of it.
Anybody who has read the book will recognize that this story
is written in the same style (no mean feat), and it conjures
up many almost tangible images of early Victorian London.
Poverty and affluence are side by side, and the dark streets
are ideal settings for some mysterious events. The portraits
of the Dickens family and their friends (and rivals) are based
on fact and spring to life rather, again, in the style of
characters from his stories. It won’t take you long
to read it, and I can promise a surprise or two in store as
well as a Christmassy feeling, whatever time of the year you
read it. Well told, enjoyable and an impressive debut from
this new author.
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