This edition of Ackroyd's brilliant biography is edited down from the huge original and it has been much improved in the process. Not that I have any problem with fat books (as a fan of Dickens I am used to them) but I did feel that there was a lot of filler and strange digressions in the full work. In this book all of that annoying stuff has been taken out and we're left with a fascinating study by one of the leading authorities on Dickens. If you enjoy a well-researched, detailed yet entertaining biography this is for you (whether you like Dickens or not).

I wouldn't call myself a Dickens "fan" as such, although I have read a number of his novels & short stories. I decided to read the unabridged edition of Peter Ackroyds' biography, rather than the shorter one, so I would get the most from it. The biography is a bit like Dickens himself, as I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with both. The common conception of Dickens is the avuncular man "who invented Christmas", whereas he was actually moody, self-centred, with an arrogant streak a mile wide. The biography, while jam-packed with the details, as known, of his life, tends to repeat some if it throughout the narrative. There are also some speculative sections, particularly regarding his relationship with Ellen Ternan, due the destruction of correspondence, where Ackroyd asks himself if this or that may have happened, and questions what might have been Dickens mental state, which without the authors' own words, is an unknowable. Obviously, Ackroyd spent years writing this book, but he seems to have ignored a trait Dickens had when writing his serialisations, by referring to his own writings and notes. This results in the restating of some events. No doubt this accounts for the later abridged version of the biography. Once you get used to these, the irritation subsides. Another trait with Ackroyd is he finds a favourite word every now and then, and uses it a number of times over a few consecutive chapters, before it vanishes, never to appear again. One such word is his use of "Quondam". It comes across as just showing off, using it instead of simply saying "former". It does irritate a bit more than his repeating information, though. I will praise the biography for how much I learned about the great author, and for the diversions it spurred me to take into people and events from his life, as well as inspiring me to read, and re-read his works. On reflection, I think I may have been better reading the abridged edition. The benefit of hindsight...