Charles Dickens was born on 7 February 1812 in Landport in Portsmouth. His father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office who often ended up in financial trouble. When Dickens was twelve years' old he was sent to work in a shoe polish factory because his father had been imprisoned for debt.In 1833 he began to publish short stories and essays in newspapers and magazines. The Pickwick Papers, his first commercial success, was published in 1836, the same year that he married Catherine Hogarth. The serialisation of Oliver Twist began in 1837 while The Pickwick Papers was still running. Many other novels followed and Dickens became a celebrity in America as well as Britain. He also set up and edited the journals Household Words (1850-9) and All the Year Round (1859-70). Charles Dickens died on 9 June 1870 leaving his last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.
It is really one of his best. There are passages so spattered with violence and blood that you look out for the red blotches on the page in front of you...brilliantly plotted -- A.N. Wilson * Daily Telegraph * Dickens's story of love, espionage and Anglo-French relations * Scotsman * When I was very much younger I used to think that A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens was the most wonderful book in all the world. I was particularly moved by Sydney Carton dying in the place of Charles Evremonde and thought this was a wonderful act but, in fact, of course in later years if you read it, it becomes an incredibly selfish act -- Anne Widdecombe * Independent * Dickens writes about Parisian and London society with such grittiness and truth, you become immersed -- Anne Charleston (Madge from Neighbours!!) Dickens's magnificent account of the revolution and one of his best (and shortest) novels * Observer *