The Last Dickens: A Novel

by Matthew Pearl | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0812978021 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingcestmoiwing of Hamilton, Ontario Canada on 9/12/2004
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingcestmoiwing from Hamilton, Ontario Canada on Saturday, February 1, 2014
In his most enthralling novel yet, the critically acclaimed author Matthew Pearl reopens one of literary history’s greatest mysteries. The Last Dickens is a tale filled with the dazzling twists and turns, the unerring period details, and the meticulous research that thrilled readers of the bestsellers The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow.

Boston, 1870. When news of Charles Dickens’s untimely death reaches the office of his struggling American publisher, Fields & Osgood, partner James Osgood sends his trusted clerk Daniel Sand to await the arrival of Dickens’s unfinished novel. But when Daniel’s body is discovered by the docks and the manuscript is nowhere to be found, Osgood must embark on a transatlantic quest to unearth the novel that he hopes will save his venerable business and reveal Daniel’s killer.

Danger and intrigue abound on the journey to England, for which Osgood has chosen Rebecca Sand, Daniel’s older sister, to assist him. As they attempt to uncover Dickens’s final mystery, Osgood and Rebecca find themselves racing the clock through a dangerous web of literary lions and drug dealers, sadistic thugs and blue bloods, and competing members of Dickens’s inner circle. They soon realize that understanding Dickens’s lost ending is a matter of life and death, and the hidden key to stopping a murderous mastermind.



Journal Entry 2 by wingcestmoiwing at Hamilton, Ontario Canada on Friday, February 7, 2014
I enjoyed Matthew Pearl's The Poe Shadow and The Dante Club and was thrilled when I saw this novel in a thrift shop; it did not disappoint.

This novel tells the story of how Dickens' unfinished story, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" came to be and the fictional hunt for the missing second half of the novel after his death. It takes us from Boston to London to Bengal and from publishing houses to London slums to opium dens and never misses a beat.

The only part I found confusing was the side story of Dickens' son Frank who is a police officer in India chasing opium smugglers. At first I thought his role was to decipher the manuscript if ever found, because he understood his father's shorthand, but then that plot line dies and goes nowhere. Other than filling pages, I am not sure what relevance it had to James' and Rebecca's quest.

Very enjoyable and recommendable, even if you haven't read The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The mystery of what Dickens intended for the story ending is a true mystery to this day and we can only speculate what would have become of Edwin.

Pearl points out at the end of the novel, (I'm paraphrasing) that all stories are unending, the writer just stops recording his version of events and leaves it to the reader's imagination to carry on the story after the last page. I have often wondered what became of characters after I turned the last page, and to me, this wondering, this wanting to know more of their lives - is the mark of a truly good story.

Journal Entry 3 by wingcestmoiwing at Hamilton, Ontario Canada on Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Passing along to CynthiaA.

Journal Entry 4 by CynthiaA at Brantford, Ontario Canada on Sunday, May 4, 2014
Thanks Enza. I love read fiction based on real people!

Journal Entry 5 by CynthiaA at Brantford, Ontario Canada on Wednesday, January 19, 2022
If there is a sweet spot for me, it’s a novel with real life people as fictional characters. In this book, it was Charles Dickens. The gist of this novel is that Dickens’ last novel (and unfinished) novel — The Mystery of Edward Drood — was in fact finished, and it is a race between the good guys and an assortment of bad guys to find it first. This is a solid 7 stars for me. I liked it. In some places it was excellent. The author’s research was fantastic and I especially liked the bits about the development of the publishing industry in the west, and the copyright issues between US and UK publishers. Yet it felt like certain chapters were added just to show off stuff the author learned in his research. These chapters held the story up. The whole subplot about Dicken’s son in India was unnecessary and added nothing to the overall narrative. The protagonists had some good luck - including deductions that happened to always be right — working in their favour. But I was always rooting for them. All in all, an entertaining read.

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