A review by sistermagpie
Charles Dickens by Jane Smiley

4.0

Short, engaging biography of Charles Dickens that puts the man and his personality front and center. I liked the way Smiley looked for meaning in Dickens's novels without overdoing it and reading them like a code to his life. The changes she sees in his work over his career are generally more subtle than that and made me want to read them all from earliest to latest.