Penguin £9.99

IoS paperback review: Charles Dickens: A Life, By Claire Tomalin

5.00

 

David Evans

Sunday 09 December 2012

Print
A A A
Suggested Topics

In his centenary year, Dickens was brought to brilliant life by Claire Tomalin in this book.

Tomalin has been praised for her sensitive exploration of Dickens’s affair with the young actress Ellen “Nelly” Ternan, but there is so much more to discover in this rich, capacious biography. I especially enjoyed the raucous account of Dickens’s journey to North America in 1848, where he was greeted with the fervour nowadays associated with pop stars (5,000 New Yorkers applied for tickets to an extravagant welcoming party known simply as “Boz Ball”). Throughout the book, Tomalin treats her subject with just the right mixture of sympathy and detachment: one emerges with a fuller picture of the writer as a flawed and fleshy mortal, but also with an undiminished sense of his genius.

Comments

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
News in pictures
World news in pictures
Arts & Ents blogs

Children’s Books: Recommended read – ‘A Monster Calls’ by Patrick Ness

Thirteen-year-old Conor awakes in bed one night to discover that the yew tree outside his house has ...

Made in Chelsea – Series 5, Episode 11: Louise plays and wins at Spencer’s game

It’s hard not to feel sorry for doe-eyed Andy. He spends months pining after Louise, has huge nostr...

The Returned: ‘Simon’ – Series 1, episode 2

Fragility of life looms large over an episode that closes with the scarring on Julie's stomach. Whil...

       
SPONSORED FEATURES

Get your summer started with British Military Fitness

BMF is the UK’s biggest and best loved outdoor fitness classes

M&S prizes Rosetta Stone Nook
Get reading Prizes & offers Business videos

How will you make today delicious?

Tell us how you plan to make today delicious and you could win a £50 M&S gift card.

Military Fitness Rosetta Stone Nook
Get reading Prizes & offers Business videos

Learn a new language

Add another string to your bow with Rosetta Stone, whether it's Spanish, Italian or Mandarin...

Military Fitness M&S prizes Nook
Get reading Prizes & offers Business videos

Making reading fun for kids

Nook is donating eReaders to volunteers at high-need schools and participating in exclusive events throughout the campaign.

Military Fitness M&S prizes Rosetta Stone
Get reading Prizes & offers Business videos

Introducing the 'Get Reading' campaign

Get the latest on The Evening Standard's campaign to get London's children reading.

Military Fitness M&S prizes Rosetta Stone
Nook Prizes & offers Business videos

Enter the latest Independent competitions

Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.

Military Fitness M&S prizes Rosetta Stone
Nook Get reading Business videos

Business videos from commercial thought leaders

Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.

Military Fitness M&S prizes Rosetta Stone
Nook Get reading Prizes & offers
 

ES Rentals

    'To farm I have to rape the countryside. It’s got to be wrong': The true effect of the badger cull

    The true effect of the badger cull

    'To farm I have to rape the countryside. It’s got to be wrong'
    Theatre review: Daniel Radcliffe gives an admirably honest performance in Michael Grandage's The Cripple of Inishmaan

    First night: The Cripple of Inishmaan

    Daniel Radcliffe gives an admirably honest performance in Michael Grandage's comedy
    Girls Guides drop religious reference but pledge to self and the Queen

    Guides drop religious reference but pledge to self and the Queen

    After 103 years, organisation changes oath to welcome 'all girls, of all faiths, and none'
    Steve Tongue: Joe Kinnear was one of the boys and a breath of fresh air... 21 years ago

    Steve Tongue

    Joe Kinnear was one of the boys and a breath of fresh air... 21 years ago
    Chris Froome: Free from 'pain in neck' after Bradley Wiggins' exit

    Chris Froome: Free from 'pain in neck' after Wiggins' exit

    Sky's lead rider says he is in fantastic form for the Tour and happy pecking order debate is over
    Hannah England: I've got the right times – now to focus on the chess

    Hannah England: Keeping Track

    I've got the right times – now to focus on the chess
    Beards, brawn and body art

    Beards, brawn and body art

    Meet London’s new batch of male models
    Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

    Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

    British love of shows such as The Bridge, Borgen and The Killing shows no sign of fading
    Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?

    The Great Green Wall of Africa,

    Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?
    Laughter Inc: the cheering growth of the chuckle industry

    Laughter Inc

    The cheering growth of the chuckle industry
    The bad science scandal: how fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research

    The bad science scandal

    How fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research
    To the manor born: The female aristocrats battling to inherit the title

    Female aristocrats battle to inherit the title

    A passionate protest is gathering pace among the women of Britain's aristocracy, who believe that men should no longer automatically inherit the family pile and title.
    Love struck: Photographs of JFK's visit to Berlin 50 years ago reveal a nation instantly smitten

    In pictures: JFK's visit to Berlin in 1963

    Photographer Ulrich Mack accompanied Kennedy on the entire trip. The results are an astonishing record of a watershed moment.
    Eat shoots and leaves: Mark Hix gets creative with fresh peas, mangetouts and sugar snaps

    Mark Hix gets creative with English peas

    English peas and their offsprings, such as mangetouts and sugar snaps, are great tossed into a salad, says our chef.
    Ceviche with a smile: Chef Martin Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends

    Chef Martin Morales: Ceviche with a smile

    Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends