Beginning with the description of Charles Dickens as “hyper-energetic, over-sexed, tormented, exultant, hilarious, despondent,” the author of this remarkable literary biography, THE MYSTERY OF CHARLES DICKENS, concludes, “If Dickens remains immortal, it is, among other reasons, for his profound understanding of the inner child who remains within all of us until we die.” A.N. Wilson, an accomplished novelist and biographer himself, shares his many reasons for loving Dickens and readily admits that the prolific writer speaks to his own inner scared, and scarred, child.

"What gives the book power is, in part, Wilson’s personal impressions, as well as his surefooted analysis of how Dickens translated his life into his art."

What gives the book power is, in part, Wilson’s personal impressions, as well as his surefooted analysis of how Dickens translated his life into his art. Some experiences were drawn from his impoverished childhood and some from characters and places he encountered as an adult. His first novel, THE PICKWICK PAPERS, which was an immediate success, was based on observations he had made as a young reporter; others, like DAVID COPPERFIELD, were heavily autobiographical. But whether one has read his extensive oeuvre recently, or at all, is not critical to enjoying this biography, which is also a social history of the Victorian era.

Beginning with Dickens’ death in 1870, Wilson takes us back through his life, loves and career, and then circles back again to his death and burial in Westminster Abbey. Not only was he one of the best-selling authors of all time, in the last decade of his life he became --- through his reading tours --- a hugely popular entertainer who drew thousands to his performances. Meanwhile, he was also the editor of a periodical, All the Year Round, a social reformer who actively supported myriad causes (including a home for wayward women), the secret lover of actress Nelly Ternan, a much younger woman who bore him several children, and the father of 10 by his long-suffering wife, Kate. Though his kids would have reservations about their father’s devotion, most who knew him loved him.

Thomas Carlyle, a mentor, said that Dickens had “one of the most cheery, innocent natures.” Wilson calls him a “mesmerist” and a “visionary,” and in THE MYSTERY OF CHARLES DICKENS he gives ample proof of both.