Description: "His knowledge is wide, his writing fluent... Wilson has a number of persuasive ideas about Dickens, whom he sees as not only a conflicted personality but a tragic one, despite his genius for comedy." - New York Times Book Review "Wilson's admiration and understanding of the novelist makes this a book to debate and savor... His own alluring analysis on the mystery of Dickens could not be bettered." - Seattle Book Review "[An] utterly satisfying investigative narrative... A marvelous exploration by an author steeped in the craft of his subject's elastic, elusive work." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Wilson brings dazzling, far-reaching erudition to this study, drawing on unexpected, sometimes arcane sources to paint a portrait with impressive depth and nuance." - BookPage "[Wilson] blend[s] perceptive analysis of the novels with parallel experiences in Dickens' life... Beyond the eye-opening analysis, Wilson also offers a moving personal account of why Dickens has meant so much to him." - Booklist (starred review) "Wilson has taken a...near-fictive approach to Dickens' life -- posing and investigating several 'mysteries' about Dickens... The solutions to these 'mysteries' may never be found, Wilson argues; but they divulge fascinating contradictions in a man whose work has entertained more generations of readers than any writer could ever dream of." - Los Angeles Times "[Wilson's] intriguing study will deliver some startling insights." - Publishers Weekly "A sprightly work of reinterpretation... Mr. Wilson is a novelist, and he brings to the task of biography a shrewd sense of how creative writers operate, along with a large stock of intuitions about human nature. The results are frequently perceptive." - Wall Street Journal

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