The Dickens Boy: A Novel
The award-winning author of modern classics such as Schindler's List and Napoleon's Last Island is at his triumphant best with this "engrossing and transporting" (Financial Times) novel about the adventures of Charles Dickens's son in the Australian Outback during the 1860s. Edward Dickens, the tenth child of England's most famous author Charles Dickens, has consistently let his parents down. Unable to apply himself at school and adrift in life, the teenaged boy is sent to Australia in the hopes that he can make something of himself--or at least fail out of the public eye. He soon finds himself in the remote Outback, surrounded by Aboriginals, colonials, ex-convicts, ex-soldiers, and very few women. Determined to prove to his parents and more importantly, himself, that he can succeed in this vast and unfamiliar wilderness, Edward works hard at his new life amidst various livestock, bushrangers, shifty stock agents, and frontier battles. By reimagining the tale of a fascinating yet little-known figure in history, this "roguishly tender coming-of-age story" (Booklist) offers penetrating insights into Colonialism and the fate of Australia's indigenous people, and a wonderfully intimate portrait of Charles Dickens, as seen through the eyes of his son.
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Community Reviews
I read this book for my Book Club. It was a hasty read and I wish I took more time, as I could see how well it was written - drama and humour rolled together, effortlessly.
As a historical fiction, I really couldn't tell apart what was fact and what was fiction. I've not read any biographies of the key characters and don't intend to as I don't really care. It is enough that the idea for the book is based on historical facts of some kind and from these seeds, a good thoughtful story is woven.
So an interesting issue dealt with in the novel is can the children of a famous great parent be themselves great? Clearly not according to the situation of poor Plorn. Overshadowed as it were by his father's celebrity in Colonial Australia.
And from the perspective of Dickens the father (not the famous writer), I can fully understand the desires of a parent for their growing child to 'apply' themselves. In modern terminology, what parent would not want their child to be the 'best version' of themselves. Plorn clearly grew and developed in colonial Australia but sadly it seems in this historical novel, his famous father didn't seem to know this before he died.
And as a husband, Charles Dickens was appalling, outrageous. His poor wife cast out, first by the placement of a barrier across their bed and then shoved out of the family home to live with her parents, so that Dickens can have his way with his mistress. But his children still seemed to love Dickens nonetheless. The ties that bind.
It's a book I'd like to read again. Highly recommended.
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