Product Description

In this stunning new illustrated biography, Peter Ackroyd introduces us to the public and private life of one of Britain's best loved literary giants, Charles Dickens.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #483190 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-25
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

About the Author
Peter Ackroyd, the world authority on Charles Dickens, is a renowned author of fiction and non-fiction. His best-selling biographies include 'Dickens' and 'London'. Ackroyd's novel 'Hawksmoor' won the Whitbread Award for fiction. Publisher's Weekly called Peter Ackroyd "a master biographer with a seductive prose style" Ackroyd's other books include The Plato papers: A Prophecy, Milton in America, Chatterton, and The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde.

Customer Reviews

This will not do.
I read only the first 100 pages before abandoning this. Ackroyd writes in an irritating punchy style with many 1-word sentences to show emphasis. This aggressive style was offensive, and at time condescending. It also was distracting. The story is supposed to be about Dickens, after all. The author is prolix, self-indulgent and more interested in establishing his own originality than that of Dickens. Less rhetoric and a steadier narrative are called for, with much less high-flown speculations. Can anyone recommend a good biography of Dickens?

Not the same book
The book I read is not the same one reviewed by some others. I read the 2003 edition, which has only about 200 pages. It is beautifully produced on thick, glossy paper and lavishly illustrated. There are no episodes in which Dickens meets his characters or dead authors.

I read the Edgar Johnson bio years ago and loved it. Ackroyd's book, at least this edition, doesn't seem to go into as much detail. He does, however, gush (as a previous reviewer said) and presents Dickens as a tormented soul who could not be still and neither a loving husband nor a loving father.