Dickens

by Hesketh Pearson

Charles Dickens led a life as fascination as that of any character in his novels and in this book his story is told by a master of English biography

Genres: Biography

352 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 1963

About the author

Edward Hesketh Gibbons Pearson was an English actor, theatre director and writer. He is known mainly for his biographies; they made him the leading British biographer of his time, in terms of commercial success.

Reviews

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three times read, a very interesting book.

[Peter Perhac · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a book! And what an achievement by Hesketh Pearson. I need to read more books by him. Thoroughly brilliant and enjoyable. You’ve all heard of Charles Dickens, possibly even read some of his books. But you need to read this biography to truly appreciate one of the best English authors that ever lived. I’m definitely going to read more books by both authors: Dickens and Pearson.

[Peter Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is subtitled “His character, comedy and career” which exactly details what it is.A wide ranging account of life,friends,books and travels written with gusto and brings this larger than life author to full life.Dickens is one of the few famous writers whose name everyone knows but who,I suspect,is hardly read for pleasure today except by school students.He is worth the effort but you need plenty of time as his books are lengthy affairs.He is though very funny which surprised me.This biography is very good but also lengthy.My copy is from 1949 so more recent biographies add more to his story especially his marital issues.This book is very good and is clearly a labour of love and enthusiasm.