Wilson's admiration for Dickens as an author is unquestionable, and at times he writes about Dickens's works with beauty and sensitivity. Unfortunately, his lack of adherence to facts is again on display here in the biographical portions of the book.

This biography is well-timed, as it is being published around the 150th anniversary of Dickens' death. I didn't learn a whole lot that I didn't know before about Dickens, but I thought the author laid out the material in a great way, as there are plenty of nods to Dickens' writing, such as the title of the book being similar to The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which was the final novel the Dickens was working on at the time of his death. This subtle reference to the unfinished book was just one of the ways the author was able to pay tribute to this larger than life literary giant.

Read if you: Want a unique exploration of Dickens's life.

If you're looking for a standard and thorough Dickens biography, this might not be for you. But if you want a lively, free-ranging look at important aspects of his life, try this one. Definitely helps if you are familiar with Dickens's novels, as they are referenced quite frequently (I wasn't, and probably would have gotten more out of it if I had!).

Librarians/booksellers: Those wanting a different take for a Dickens biography will be interested.

Many thanks to HarperCollins and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

A. N. Wilson's biography of Dickens is not linear, and is the better for it in my opinion. The death of Dickens is where the book begins, and his death is the touchstone to which it returns. Dickens's death is shrouded in mystery because he may have been with his young mistress when he died.

The flaws and merits of Dickens (personal as well as literary) are all covered, drawing useful parallels to his fiction with thorough citations, yet Wilson does not stray so deep into the scholarly weeds that you must be a Dickens expert to find the book interesting. Dickens cannot be separated from his terrible childhood and the constant threat of poverty, and his compelling characters were in most cases drawn directly from real life. Dickens the author cannot be separated from Dickens the actor, and Dickens drew large characters who could be transported from page to stage. Happily for us, they lend themselves beautifully to movie and screen adaptations.

History and human progress do not reflect kindly upon Dickens as a husband to his wife Catherine, and Wilson makes sure the reader understands just how loathsome he was to her, perhaps because, the author suggests, she came to remind him of his own mother. Dickens was both extraordinarily prideful of his literary stardom, and not proud enough in thinking that his "sacredly private" domestic arrangements would be kept that way by posterity. Women are still Dickens's Achilles heel, as Wilson argues. He could not fully bring any literary woman to life, even his heroines--and so modern readers cannot help but roll our eyes at the insipid dialogue and flat characterization of Esther Summerson in "Bleak House."

The stories behind the stories of Dickens are fascinating. Dickens did not, for example, want to write the story for which he is best known, "A Christmas Carol," but he was (as ever) short of funds. Wilson explains the weird, quasi-Christian civil morality that infuses "A Christmas Carol" and other works of Dickens as well as explaining Dickens's own (sometimes weird) charitable endeavors.

Wilson surprises and shocks the reader with a bit of his own personal history in order to explain why Dickens has meant so much to him as a reader.

I enjoyed the book and the writing style and recommend it to readers like me who are into Victoriana and Dickens but neither a Dickens scholar nor interested in a lengthy biography. It is the best of Dickens, it is the worst of Dickens.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher and was encouraged to submit a review.

The mystery of Charles Dickens...for the historical fiction lover. For the lover of Dickens...try this one...is an average book about an English writer that one loves or doesn’t...