This second volume of The Letters of Charles Dickens covers 1857 to 1870, the final and in many ways most turbulent phase of the novelist’s life. The letters trace the writing of late masterpieces such as A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations, the founding of his magazine All the Year Round, and the public readings that made and exhausted him.
They also reflect the strains of these years: his separation from his wife, his relentless schedule, and his travels in Britain and America. Throughout, Dickens’s voice remains vigorous, affectionate, and sharply observant, full of humour even amid fatigue. For readers who finished the first volume, or who simply love the novels, this correspondence offers an intimate record of a great writer working at full stretch to the very end of his life.