Books that Hook: The Last Dickens

Our senior book reviews are written with the understanding that mature, sensible, premium-aged people may not want the bother of searching for well-written, sleaze-free reading materials—that’s why we’ve done the searching for you. We hope you enjoy this month’s pick.

This Month’s Fiction Selection: The Last Dickens

Author: Matthew Pearl

Publisher: Random House          

Length: 396

Charles Dickens was the most popular and successful author of the Victorian era, and he remains a favorite even today, nearly 150 years after his death. His unforgettable characters live on in the imaginations of readers everywhere. Who, having read Great Expectations, could forget Pip, Estella, and the strange and horrifying Miss Havisham? Published in serial installments during his lifetime, Dickens’ novels feature gripping and complex plots that always left the readers desperate for more.

What a devastating blow to his fans, then, that his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, was left unfinished, incomplete at the time of Dickens’ death in 1870. Enter The Last Dickens, penned by Matthew Pearl. A graduate of Harvard and Yale Law, Pearl has just enough intelligence and gumption to bring dear old Dickens back to life.

At the time of Dickens’ death, Fields & Osgood was the only American publisher with rights to print Dickens’ works. Anxiously awaiting the final installment of Edwin Drood, publisher James Osgood sends a trusted delivery boy to the docks to collect the pages that have been carefully sent across the ocean. But Daniel is murdered, and when Osgood sets out to uncover his murderer and collect the manuscript, he is plunged into a mysterious plot that will take him across the ocean, through opium dens, and into terrible danger. Accompanied by the intelligent Rebecca Sands, Osgood must work quickly to discover if there truly is more fact than fiction in the story Dickens wrote about Edwin Drood. 

While the novel may lack some of the engrossing and precise detail that a more scholarly work might offer, it is entertaining and enriched with just enough research and historical accuracy to engage and delight the average reader. The Last Dickens was named a Critic’s Pick by the Washington Post and an Editor’s Choice by the New York Times.

 Even if you’ve never read Dickens, this book is for you. And if you have read Dickens? Well, when this novel concludes, it’ll have you running to your bookshelf to dust off your favorite Dickens novel to reread.

You can borrow The Last Dickens from your local library. Purchase it from a local bookseller or at www.amazon.com. Also available in e-book and audio book format.

By Kalie Chamberlain