This first volume of The Letters of Charles Dickens covers the years 1833 to 1856, the period of his meteoric rise from young reporter to the most famous novelist in the English-speaking world. Edited by his sister-in-law and eldest daughter, the collection lets Dickens speak in his own voice about his work, his friendships, and the bustle of his extraordinary public life.
The letters are full of energy, humour, and warmth, touching on the writing of novels from Pickwick to Bleak House, his travels in America and Italy, his theatrical enthusiasms, and his tireless charitable schemes. For readers who love the novels, this correspondence offers an intimate companion portrait of their author—generous, hard-driving, and irrepressibly alive. It is essential reading for understanding the man behind the Victorian age’s greatest storyteller.