Hungerford Stairs: An Untold Tale of Charles Dickens - Couverture souple

Braun, Thom

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1805140108 ISBN 13 : 9781805140108

Editeur : Matador, 2023

Synopsis

Following Charles Dickens’s death, his friend and biographer, John Forster, discovers a ‘lost’ manuscript that provides a radically different view of the year the young author spent working in a blacking factory. But is the account fact or fiction?

In the 1820s the Dickens family arrive to start a new life in London . Charles (‘Charley’) is just eleven and looking to continue his education. However, instead of being sent to school – and as his family fall deeply into debt – he is put to work in a boot-blacking factory at Hungerford Stairs.

With his father soon cast into the Marshalsea debtors prison, Charley’s eagerness to earn an extra shilling sees him drawn into a criminal network led by the dark figure of Mr Magnus. The combination of demeaning factory work with this new and dangerous criminal activity places a huge burden on Charley, at a time when his mother and siblings are increasingly dependent on him.

Life becomes even more complicated when Charley is approached by the mysterious Mr Hesketh. How can the future novelist balance the demands of family, paid work and the London underworld amidst a situation that moves swiftly from casual abuse to violence, and ultimately the hangman’s noose?

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Thom Braun has been an academic (with two PhDs), international marketing director, creative strategy consultant and part-time parish priest. His publications range from a literary biography of Benjamin Disraeli to The Philosophy of Branding (published in ten languages) to a satirical novel about the commercialisation of the Church of England.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Matador
• Date d'édition: 2023
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1805140108
• ISBN 13: 9781805140108
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 480
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible