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The Last Dickens: A Novel
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The Last Dickens: A Novel
Unavailable
The Last Dickens: A Novel
Audiobook13 hours

The Last Dickens: A Novel

Written by Matthew Pearl

Narrated by Paul Michael

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

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.


From the Hardcover edition.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMar 17, 2009
ISBN9780739344293
Unavailable
The Last Dickens: A Novel
Author

Matthew Pearl

Matthew Pearl’s novels have been international and New York Times bestsellers translated into more than 30 languages. His nonfiction writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, The Atavist Magazine, and Slate. The New York Daily News raves "if the past is indeed a foreign country, Matthew Pearl has your passport." Matthew has been chosen Best Author for Boston Magazine's Best of Boston and received the Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction. 

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Rating: 3.535185851851852 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Pearl has made a career out of writing novels about literary mysteries. He has written a novel about a translation of Dante, about Edgar Allen Poe’s death, and this novel, which deals with the end of the life of Charles Dickens and the end of his unfinished novel, the Mystery of Edwin Drood.Pearl chooses as a protagonist the publisher of Dickens novels in Boston. The seamier side of the publishing industry is revealed, at a time when there was no international copyright law and the theft of manuscripts was common. The plot involves the publisher traveling to England to search for the end of the unfinished novel. It is, of course, a little contrived, but entertaining. Flashbacks include Dickens last reading tour of America, and a glimpse of the English opium trade in India. Opium plays a large part in Dickens novel, so Pearl uses it to good advantage in his novel.A “solution” to Dickens unfinished novel is proposed, one involving real characters that Dickens supposedly based his novel on. Overall it’s a good read, probably the best of the Pearl literary mysteries.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In 1870 American publishing firms raced to obtain copies of new European books. The copyright laws did not stretch to international works, so there was no regulation prohibiting a competing firm from printing any book. There was great competition amongst the big publishing firms to be the first to print popular new works.When Charles Dickens died suddenly on June 9, 1870 he was only half finished with the book that would be his last: The Mystery of Edwin Drood. His American publishing house, the Boston firm of Fields, Osgood & Co, is anxiously awaiting the first half of the book to be delivered by ship. Young Daniel Sand, the assistant who was sent to the dock to pick up the pages, is killed on his way back to the offices. His death looks like an opium overdose, though his sister Rebecca, who also works at the company, knows that he was no addict.The pages are replaced fairly easily, but Fields and Osgood both know that rival firm Harper & Brothers is breathing down their necks and will publish the first half of the book themselves as soon as the six installments comprising the first half of the book are published. The author's death means that the final six installments will never be written. Then they are inspired by a fantastic idea. If they go to England perhaps they can learn something about what the ending of the novel would have been. Armed with this information, Fields, Osgood & Co. would be in the enviable position of having exclusive content and would be assured of a bestseller, something their struggling firm badly needs.Originally, Fields was to have made the trip as senior partner. But he decides to send young James Osgood instead, along with Rebecca Sand as secretary. James is attacked on the ship going to London. The culprit, a swarthy fellow with a deadly walking stick, is captured and held in the ship's hold. Before they dock in England, though, the fellow has inexplicably escaped.They have not seen the last of him. James and Rebecca take rooms at the inn across from Dickens' home, Gadshill Place. They have permission from the family to execute a search of the author's papers, though no one has any idea what the author's plans were for the last half of the novel. They find a few tiny clues, but not even the Queen of England was told how the book would end (Dickens offered to tell her, but she preferred to wait and read the installments with the rest of the British public).As their search widens, they encounter more strange and eccentric people while following the twisting trail of Edwin Drood. Their time is running out, the last of the six installments will soon be published and they will have nothing to add to the final published book. Desperate to succeed, James accompanies a lunatic into London's violent opium dens, hoping to find more information...if he survives.I really loved this fascinating mystery. It has everything, from a eye-opening look at the publishing industry of the period, both in America and England, to an equally hair raising lesson in the opium industry. I had no idea that whole areas of India were commanded by the ruling British government to grow nothing but poppies for the development of opium. Nothing else could be grown, not even food, so whole villages starved as a result. The characters in the book are equally interesting (many of them were, of course, actual people), vividly drawn and so true to life that I sometimes felt I was reading non-fiction - though real life is seldom as action-packed as this book! Matthew Pearl has all his historical facts right and he blends them artfully into an absorbing, fast-paced thriller of a tale. Go and get The Last Dickens...you won't be disappointed!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A fast paced look at the cut-throat (literally!) world of book publishing. The Boston publishing house of Fields & Osgood is rightfully proud that author Charles Dickens has chosen them as his US publisher. They sponsored his second US speaking tour to great success. They are in the midst of publishing in serial form his latest, 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood', when word comes that Dickens has died of a stroke. The world is aghast at losing its most popular author. On only a slightly less distressing level, we possess only 6 out of 12 chapters of his last book. How is the mystery resolved? A step ahead of other piratical US publishers, James Osgood travels to England to see if he can find any remaining information as to the end of the mystery. Pearl writes a gripping mystery, which also has resonance to our modern world. Watching the fanatic adoring crowds and stalkers harass Dickens on his US tour, we witness the nascency of celebrity worship. The big business of the opium trade with its underworld characters and impact on world economies presages our current 'War on Drugs'. The lack of copyright protection, and the 'bookaneers' who pirate the work of others mirrors present struggles over music swapping and Google books. This book loving Bostonian loved this book and would recommend it to others of a similar bent.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A fascinating, ingenious novel. Pearl weaves a tale of mystery and intrigue involving a search for the last installments of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Charles Dickens's unfinished novel. Fields and Osgood, his American publishers, have held off their competitors by being Dickens's publishing firm in North America. Before the protections of international copyright protocols unauthorized, pirate versions of popular English novels meant that those who could first produce legitimate versions had an advantage over knock-off competitors. Fields and Osgood, sensing that their profitable niche as the principal publishers of New England writers is waning, relied on their relationship with Dickens as a foundation of their business. Dickens's novels were wildly popular and were first released in chapter installments to his eager readership. When Dickens died halfway through Drood, all publishers were anxious to get their hands on the last six chapters, if they existed.Ripley Osgood, a firm's partner, embarks on a search in the US and England to find the ending of the work, or to gain intelligence from anyone with whom Dickens might have shared his intended ending. His quest encounters many dangerous characters, including several who are double agents of a sort. The path of investigation takes him into scenes that appeared in Drood, especially involving the opium trade between England, China and America. There are violent encounters with enemies throughout and twists and turns at every stage.Ripley is accompanied in his searches by Rebecca Sand, a bookkeeper of the firm. The firm has just taken the radical step of hiring female staff and the growing revelation of her competence as the story progresses is a preview of the rise of women in business. There is also a budding romance between Ripley and Rebecca told within the constraints and impediments associated with the Victorian era.The tale of the search is intermingled with flashbacks of Dickens's final American lecture tour. Here too are many odd characters whose obsession with Dickens creates some havoc and much interest. Dickens's personality is revealed as is the nature of rabid following he engendered. Like other strands in the novel, the chapters about Dickens mix in real personages with fictional characters.The novel emulates the style of Dickens novels in a very satisfying and clever manner. The plot slowly unfolds the lurk of mysterious forces influencing actions and events just outside the ken of the protagonists while leading to denouement that ties everything together.This novel, like Pearl's other works -- The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow -- is a lot of fun.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    First sentence:Neither of the young mounted policemen fancied these subdivisions of the Bagirhaut province.Reason for Reading: I'm always interested in Victorian historical fiction plus I've read two other books this year that concerned Charles Dickens: 'Drood' by Dan Simmons and 'Wanting' by Richard Flanagan. Therefore I thought why not add a third to the mix especially since this concentrated on Dickens last novel as did 'Drood'. Comments: Dickens has just died leaving his last book "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" only half-finished. But one of the partners of his American publishing house James Osgood is certain he may be able to find clues to Dickens' intentions for the story's ending if he travels to England which leads him into a much deeper, darker and dangerous mystery than he had counted on. The book also flashes back a few years to a plot line that follows Dickens' final book tour of America and the trials and tribulations that accompanied him on that last trip. And finally, the book follows a third less frequent plot line of Frank Dickens, Charles' son, who is an officer stationed in India. The time period being consistent with the recent death of his father.This is a much researched and historically accurate tale as far as Dickens and his family and acquaintances go. Many small real life incidents of his life are included which adds authenticity to the period. I found the characters and the setting to be spot on with regards to Victorian attitudes and ambiance. While the book is populated fiercely with a motley crew of characters, two do stand out as the main characters and I found both James and Rebecca to be both truly believable and completely compelling. Rebecca never stepped out of her place as a woman of her times but as a divorced woman working as a bookkeeper she took no nonsense from anyone as regards her sex. I loved her stinging, yet witty remarks, that kept her completely within her confines as a Victorian woman.The plot follows many clues and red herrings sending James and (sometimes) Rebecca all over London's shadier sides and to the East End and finally to the dregs of opium dens and thieves quarters. While certainly an interesting read that did keep me reading, I found the pacing slow. It was a book I could put down and not be in a hurry to pick up again. Not because I wasn't liking it but just that it didn't have that certain intensity to it. The ending does increase in pace and there is a typical high energy rush in the final chapters as the mystery is solved, which is all rather cleverly done on the author's part.One thing I did find fascinating was the description of the the cut-throat world of American publishing at the time. The underhanded dealings, the nefarious goings on, the blatant disregard for international copyright, and in particular the way in which the Harper Brothers were portrayed. If the beginnings of Harper & Bros. and the characters of the brothers themselves have been portrayed realistically here an historical fiction on their family would be an amazing read.This book would be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys a good literary mystery but I also think it will satisfy all the people who did not like 'Drood' by Dan Simmons very much because of the supernatural elements. Now I loved that other book, but for those of you who didn't, I think you'll love 'The Last Dickens' more than I did.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really liked this book but I don't see the point of the chapters set in India,they don't add anything to the story and I think it would have worked just as well without them
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Don't read all these reviews before reading the book. I haven't read Edwin Drood so will do so immediately but the story is interesting even if you don't know Dickens' last unfinished novel. At first the writing style is a little off putting but , as you get further into the story it seems to fit perfectly.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A tour de force of research... well worth the nearly three year wait! Pearl hooked me with his first book The Dante Club, but I was a bit lukewarm on The Poe Shadow. However, Pearl really reverts to form here in a big way. The plot is completely over-the-top, but that's what historical-mystery-thriller-fiction is supposed to be, no? Besides, my hat is off to anyone that for all intents and purposes invents his own genre: historical mysteries based around famous authors and the publishing industry of the times. Great stuff!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another enjoyable book by Matthew Pearl. I found this mystery did not hold my interest quite as thoroughly as the Dante and Poe mysteries, but I have to allow that I was reading this book while I was sick and my physical misery may have colored my ability to enjoy the book fully. However, I have to admit that while I had some suspicions about a particular character, I never guessed at his true identity, and in my opinion, that is a mark of a well-written mystery. I like to be able to follow along and piece together the clues as I read, but I don't like to have the ending all figured out before I get there.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I think this is my favorite Matthew Pearl book, so far. I love how his affection for Dickens shows so clearly. His characters - both historic and invented - were well drawn and likable. His theory on the story behind Edwin Drood is compelling and enjoyably revealed.

    Possible spoiler, if you don't know anything about Dickens or Drood: it was difficult not to be disappointed by the conclusion, even though you know something like that has to happen to keep history in tact.

    The only thing I found puzzling by the end of the tale was Francis Dickens' role in it. I'm not at all sure what the relevance of his cameos was to the central tale.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Last DickensMatthew PearlPub. Date: October 06, 2009Publisher: Random House Publishing GroupFormat: Paperback, 416ppISBN-13: 9780812978025ISBN: 0812978021The blurb from the publisher: 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 Dickens’s unfinished novel–The Mystery of Edwin Drood. 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 will save his venerable business and reveal Daniel’s killer.The Short of It:A literary adventure of the most enjoyable kind. The Last Dickens is a historical literary thriller that includes a good dose of mystery, lots of bookish references and a smattering of romance all rolled into one.The Rest of It:The Last Dickens is a fictionalization that focuses on the unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Although the novel started out a tad slow for me, it didn't take long for me to get into the story or its characters. As I was reading, I found myself thinking about silent films from the early 1900's. Why, you ask? Well, the villains in those films were these creepy, shadowy apparitions that appeared out of nowhere. There is much of that in this novel as well. Additionally, the lure of the opium dens and their smokey interiors add to the mysterious air of the novel. Films from that era had to rely on setting and the setting that Pearl paints, draws the reader in.However, what I really enjoyed were the passages about Dickens himself. Pearl does an excellent job of making Dickens an accessible, compassionate human being. The eccentricities of the author shine through, yet he is a bit softer around the edges...more likable I guess. Earlier in the year I read Drood by Dan Simmons. In that novel, the sections that dealt with Dickens and his American tour seemed a tad tedious to get through. I didn't find that to be the case with The Last Dickens. Pearl takes the time to focus on Dickens as a man, and not just his readings alone. I felt that this alone helped the reader understand how much this man was loved by his readers.Another item of importance is that it is not necessary for you to have read any of Dickens's work. Doing so certainly adds to the experience but The Last Dickens does not require it of the reader. Overall, this reading adventure was well worth the trip and I look forward to reading Pearl's other works.Matthew is coming by for another visit on Wednesday, September 30th for a guest post. Be sure to check it out because it will also include a chance to win the book!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Couldn’t resist the combination of two of my favorite things: Charles Dickens and a good mystery. Found the parts about Charles Dickens worthwhile, but the mystery was a disappointment.The plot, such as it is: Charles Dickens has died, and his U.S. publishing house faces a quandary. The young lad who was supposed to deliver to them the initial chapters of Dickens’ last work, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, has himself died under mysterious circumstances, before he could complete the expected delivery. What to do but to send a representative of the publisher (accompanied by a comely young company bookkeeper) to England to retrieve the chapters before they’re pirated by unethical U.S. competitors? And, as long as they’re there, why not investigate the possibility that Dickens actually completed the final chapters, but secreted them away?My favorite chapters of the book re-create Dickens’ final U.S. tour. One thing Pearl has always done well is stuff his novels with authentic period detail, and his depiction of America’s obsession with Dickens is refreshingly faithful to the historical record. As a bibliophile myself, I love imagining a time when Americans stood in block-long lines, sometimes overnight, for tickets to hear authors perform dramatic readings from their canon. Pearl also incorporates some interesting insight into the state of the publishing industry and copywrite law in the mid/late 1800s. However, the pleasure I derived from these chapters wasn’t enough to reconcile me to the book’s many deficits, to include numerous plot holes (I’m sorry, but seriously – in the real world, there’s no way Osgood & Rebecca arrive in England before the pirated pages are on their way to the U.S. by a ship headed in the opposite direction), tangential subplots (one gets the sense that the bits set in Bengal have more to do with Pearl showing off his scholarship than actual plot development), a pair of protagonists as lively as cardboard cutouts (not much smarter than cardboard cutouts, come to that), a romantic subplot entirely lacking in passion, and an over-reliance on improbability that, by the end of the story, borders on preposterous. I get that Pearl is trying to weave the plot of Edwin Drood into the tale, but instead of a seamless garment, this reads more like a quilt fashioned out of pieces that don't quite fit. In other words, I can’t in good conscious recommend this as a worthwhile read. I can, however, hope that folks who complete the tale will be inspired to read the real Edwin Drood and draw their own conclusions: is Edwin dead and stuffed in a church crypt, or laying quietly in wait until he can safety expose his uncle’s perfidy? Whatever ending Dickens intended, I’m confident it would have been more satisfying than this uneven outing.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Charles Dickens has just died leaving his latest effort “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” unfinished. A partner in an American publishing house decides to go to England in order to find clues to seeing the book through to completion. I understand this book is historically accurate with respect to Mr. Dickens’ life. That fact and the insight to the back-stabbing operations of the publishing houses of the period were the only things about this book I found captivating. I keep picking up Mr. Pearl’s books hoping one of them will capture me to the degree that THE DANTE CLUB did. Neither his last effort about Poe nor this one about Dickens has managed to accomplish that.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    What if Charles Dickens actually did write the ending of his unfinished novel "The Mystery of Edwin Drood"? And what if that piece of fiction was based on fact and somebody didn't want that truth revealed? Matthew Pearl takes these "what ifs" and a few others and creates his own exciting blend of truth and imagination in his 2009 novel "The Last Dickens."When Charles Dickens dies in 1870, he leaves his last novel only half-finished. Because the first six monthly installments have already been printed, his readers are eager to learn how the story ends. James Osgood, his American publisher, sets off to England to find, if not an actual manuscript, then at least clues to what Dickens intended. It soon becomes apparent that somebody much more ruthless is trying to beat him to it.Dickens himself appears in an extended flashback about his 1867 visit to America. We are given a glimpse at the kind of superstar Dickens was in his day. This American tour, which some people believe may have exhausted the author to the point that it contributed to his early death, turns out to play a key role in the resolution of Pearl's plot.Many of Pearl's characters, including Osgood himself, were real people, and many of the events described really happened. All this helps give Pearl's inventions the ring of truth.For those of us who enjoy mysteries and thrillers in the literary world (such as "The Book of Air and Shadows" and "The Bookman's Wake"), "The Last Dickens" is among the best.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I have to admit thatI have never gotten through this book. I loved that Dante Club so I picked this up and have never been able to read more than a few dozen pages. I even took it on a trip so I would have to get into it, but decided the newspaper was a better read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Set shortly after Dickens's death in 1870, and told partly in flashback, this novel follows (real-life) Boston publisher James Osgood as he tries to find any clues as to what Dickens had in mind for the ending of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, his famously unfinished last book. This journey takes him from New England to England, to Rochester, Dickens's former residence Gadshill Place, and London.I've never read anything by Matthew Pearl before, and, if this book is representative of his writing, probably won't be seeking out his other books, namely The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow. That's a shame because it started promisingly enough. The Last Dickens appears well researched, and I got a sense of Charles Dickens the man, and not just the author. Unfortunately his characterisations remain shallow and two-dimensional throughout, apart from Dickens himself, who comes across as a complex character. The prose remains flat, and never allows for a tense atmosphere to build up; the only exception is the scene at the London opium den, where I could see the opium smoke pervade the dingy room, and smell its intoxicating vapours. In terms of plot, it sometimes appeared as if I was reading a Victorian melodrama, Osgood's enemies almost becoming caricatures of themselves in their inherent villainy. If this was supposed to be the author's intention, then he doesn't pull it off as it appears as a parody of itself. Matthew Pearl tells us that with his character of Rebecca, Osgood's bookkeeper and love interest, he tried to reflect 'the real achievements and challenges in a new class of single working women ... as well as that of divorced women.' So, while probably historically accurate, I felt that Rebecca was often reduced to a mere accessory and wasn't given nearly enough to do for a modern reader. The central mystery was intriguing, especially when presented with all the historical facts that the author integrated into this novel, but the Indian subplot involving one of Dickens's sons bore only the slightest of connections to the rest of the narration and was extremely distracting as I was expecting it to make some sense in the wider context until right up to the end when it's clear that it doesn't.A book for lovers of Dickens and literary murder mysteries, but unfortunately not for me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Bostonian publisher seeks to find the missing portions of Charles Dickens last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which go missing immediately after his sudden death. Along the way many mysteries ensue surrounding the last two years of Charles Dickens life.Although the plot is somewhat dragging at points, I really enjoy this historical mystery. Pearl's history is suppose to be fairly accurate but the more interesting part is the fiction surrounding the history. He paints some very interesting characters in this novel.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I was incredibly disappointed by this book. Having seen it on display in a Waterstone's branch, I felt I wanted to read it. It just doesn't live up to expectations. It's totally contrived and doesn't ring true somehow. If he must use this amount of evidence to explain what happened to the manuscript of "Edwin Drood" after the death of Charles Dickens (as he died before the novel was completed, as everyone knows, or should know.) why not write a factual, documentary account, instead of this laboured, phoney novel?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Loosely based on Dickens' last trip to U.S. and his last book "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" which he died before completing. This book involves his U.S. publisher attempting to locate the remaining chapters thought to hae been written by Dickens. Good read
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This was not my favorite book - I am not much of a mystery reader, nor a Dickens fan. I think those qualities would have made the book more interesting for me. The main character was interesting and the mystery involved many other characters and took time to unravel. This mostly kept me interested, but could drag at times. This was my first Pearl book; perhaps I'll attempt others.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Despite literary talent such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Boston-based publisher Fields & Osgood is facing economic catastrophe. The publishing house’s survival may depend on their shining star, celebrated British novelist Charles Dickens. As Dickens’s only authorized American publisher, Fields & Osgood hope that The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Dickens’s first novel in five years, will bolster sales enough to avoid financial ruin.The unexpected death of Charles Dickens in June of 1870 leaves The Mystery of Edwin Drood unfinished. James Osgood entrusts Daniel Sand, a young but industrious clerk, with the task of retrieving Dickens’s final, incomplete manuscript as soon as it arrives in Boston. But when Daniel is found dead -- without the manuscript in his possession -- is his death simply a tragic accident or something more sinister?With the fate of the publishing house very much in doubt, James Osgood and Rebecca Sand, Daniel’s sister and a bookkeeper at Fields & Osgood travel to England to see if Dickens left any clues as to how his final book would end. Osgood and Rebecca soon find that they are not the only ones looking for Dickens’s last work, and there is much more on the line than just a manuscript. Events that were set in motion two years earlier during Charles Dickens’s American reading tour will provide surprising answers and provoke new questions. Their journey will take them from the Dickens family home, Gadshill Place, to the opium dens of London and finally back to Boston in a deadly game of literary cat-and-mouse.I greatly enjoyed the characters of James Osgood and Rebecca Sand but my favorite parts of the novel were the flashbacks to Charles Dickens’s American tour. Dickens is described as “a man with exclamation points for eyes” and that bubbly vitality was present in Pearl’s characterization of Dickens. There’s something universal about Charles Dickens. The endurance of his works are perfect evidence of this. I thought Matthew Pearl expressed the reasons for Dickens’s continual appeal exceptionally well in this passage: “Dickens alone, among all the writers of popular fiction of the day, could employ wit and discernment, excitement and sympathy, in equal parts in each one of his books. The characters were no mere paper dolls, nor were they thinly veiled extensions of Charles Dickens’s own persona. No, the characters were utterly themselves. In a Dickens story, readers were not asked to aspire to a higher class or to hate other classes than their own but to find the humanity and the humane in all. That is what had made him the world’s most famous author.” -- p. 33During most of the book, the story alternates between two main storylines: that of Osgood and Rebecca and that of Dickens’s American tour. There is also a third subplot involving Frank Dickens, the son of Charles Dickens, in India. The two main storylines come together well by the end of the novel, but I felt that Frank Dickens’s storyline needed a clearer resolution. And, while I liked Rebecca as a character, I wondered more than once if she came across as a bit too modern for the time period. If I had to sum up The Last Dickens in one word, it would be subtle. It’s a book that rewards the patient and observant reader as the story progresses. Major revelations are presented without fanfare, and somehow seem more powerful for it.Some readers may wonder how The Last Dickens compares to Drood by Dan Simmons. If not for the common theme of Charles Dickens and his last work, I think it would be almost unfair to compare the two. They are two very different stories. I enjoyed both of them, each for their own reasons, and I can’t say that I preferred one over the other. My favorite aspect of Drood was how Victorian London came fully to life, almost as though it were a character in itself. I didn’t have the same sense of time and place with The Last Dickens, even though Boston and London were both well-portrayed. The Last Dickens shows Charles Dickens in a kinder and more objective light than the reader receives from Drood’s narrator, Wilkie Collins. I suspect that The Last Dickens will have more mass appeal due to its less intimidating length and more likable characters. Both are worth reading for anyone who enjoys literary fiction. Both are must-reads for anyone with an interest in Charles Dickens.This was my first experience with Matthew Pearl's writing, but it most certainly will not be the last.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Last Dickens is a mystery. The story begins at the time of Charles Dickens death. Apparently the world's most loved writer has up and died before completing "Edmund Drood". The publishing world of the day is one of intrigue, desperate measures and desperate men. A cast of colorfull characters that would do Dickens proud compete in a deadly race to the finish. Strange mysteries lead some to terrifying places and more than one gruesome death. One turns page after page wondering how much of it was fiction and how much sobering fact. It is not until the welcome prologue that one can finally discover how much of this riveting tale was ,after all, true. Sprinkle a a refreshing bit of good old-fashioned sweet romance and a dash of character from a few well loved Dickens novels and you have a recipe for a nice bit of escapism. Sure to entertain any fan of Charles Dickens it will no doubt have its readers scrambling for a copy of Edmund Drood just as fast as they can fire up their Kindles
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Is it at all possible that opium, murder, Bookeneers and greedy publishers played a significant part in Charles Dickens' last and perhaps unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood? Author Matthew Pearl seems to think so in his novel, The Last Dickens and weaves an intricate storyline which is nicely presented in a period style six installments. The reader travels with Dicken's during his last tour of the U.S., then on to India where the opium trade is integral to many countries and of course England where Dickens died. Where are the last installments of Edwin Drood? Who has them? Were they in fact written, if not, who will complete them? A lot of money rests on the answers and some cutthroat publishers will stop at nothing to find them.In The Last Dickens, Matthew Pearl attributes this quote to Charles Dickens, "The books do pretend...But that is not all. Novels are filled with lies, but squeezed in between is even more that is true - without what you may call the lies, the pages would be too light for the truth, you see? The writer of books always puts himself in, his real self, but you must be careful of not taking him for his next door neighbor." It is appropriate because Pearl does a fabulous job walking in Dickens' footsteps. Fact melds with ficton and one can hardly see where one ends and the other begins.The novel is rather slow at times and for that I would rate it a three but a four star conclusion brings it to 3 1/2 stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    'The Last Dickens' of the title is of course Charles Dickens unfinished book,'The Mystery of Edwin Dood'.Matthew Pearl's latest literary thriller proposes that possibly the missing parts are still in existence.We follow the trail of the manuscript in the company of James Osgood who is Dickens American publisher and his assistant Rebecca Sand. There are quite a few good atmospheric set-pieces throughout the book and the historical figures and fictional characters blend well together.The opium connections are well done as is the section dealing with Charles Dickens stalker.So,over-all a satisfying read,which just misses being a top-rater.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Set in alternating time periods of 1870 post-Charles Dickens’s death, and 1867 during his American reading tour, The Last Dickens is Matthew Pearl’s idea of what could have happened to the last six installments of the last novel ever written by Dickens: The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Taking real facts and blending them with research, The Last Dickens is a fun mystery that makes you more of a Dickens fan than a Matthew Pearl fan, but it’s still decent enough.The book opens in Bengal, India in June 1870 and introduces us to two mounted policemen, Mason and Turner, who sadly don’t have much to do with the rest of the book. Yes they come back, but the parts set in India serve only to illustrate the booming opium trade (central to The Mystery of Edwin Drood) and introduce one of Charles Dickens’s sons, Francis. Neither Francis, nor Mason and Turner have a huge role in the remaining novel, so I am not certain why this was the first chapter of the first installment, nor really why they were there to begin with.Then we meet the team of Fields and Osgood, Dickens’s American publishers who are struggling to stay in business and keep their Dickens to themselves. Sent on a mission for the two publishers, Daniel Sand, their clerk, dies while trying to receive the latest Dickens installments (numbers five and six) from England. Sand is run over after being chased by a scary man from India, and Osgood must travel to England with Sand’s sister, Rebecca, to unravel the enigma behind the end of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. They go searching for clues to see if Dickens perhaps had an idea of how Drood was to end so they can publish the true ending before poachers swoop in. Sand’s death is used as a way of making the book intriguing, of uniting Osgood and Rebecca, and giving them a reason to travel to England together. There’s also a lawyer who dies, some “Bookaneers” who hangout at the docks trying to steal novels from each other for publishers, and a crazy lady who stalks Dickens during his tour thrown in for the mix.Basically, there was a LOT going on in this novel, which normally I enjoy because I like to piece all the puzzle parts together on my own, but this was a little overwhelming. Lots of strings that were neatly tied at the end, but left me aggravated wondering why they were there to begin with. I think Pearl tried too hard with Dickens to make a good, natural mystery into something more sensational. The India and opium trade plotlines served only to fill space, and the lady stalking Dickens served only as a means to an end for the question of whether Dickens had already written the second half of Drood.In general, I was underwhelmed by this book. I loved Pearl’s The Dante Club and would place this book below that, but above his second book, The Poe Shadow. It all seemed a tad scattered to me, but I do want to go read The Mystery of Edwin Drood now.3 stars
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    June 9, 1870. Charles Dickens has just died. He was in the process of writing his first mystery novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. His American publishers, Fields and Osgood are awaiting the latest installment of Drood. Daniel Sand, their office clerk has been sent to retrieve these installments coming from London. But he is killed on the docks and the pages are missing. Even though Osgood is able to get them sent again from London, Fields and Osgood fear that their publishing house could go under without the final installment. James Osgood also suspects foul play in Daniel's death. He leaves for London, with Rebecca, Daniel's sister, to see if he can find the ending to Dicken's last novel. My review: This book was perfect timing for me as I had just finished Drood by Dan Simmons. The Last Dickens seemed to pick up where that left off. It was very fast paced and engaging. Osgood searches Dicken's home and office for any notes about how the famous author had intended to end the mystery in his novel. Everyone has an opinion as to how it was meant to end. As Dickens based most of his characters on people he knew in real life, Osgood searches for his inspiration.There is lots of intrigue, mystery, dark characters, and a smidge of romance in this work. Pearl tells a great tale based on historical facts and takes us around London and Boston on this quest. I quite enjoyed this, though I would have to say I liked Drood better. But I would still definitely recommend this.my rating 4.5/5
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Dicken's fans shouldn't miss this one.I enjoyed this novel for giving me a new perspective on Dickens and his life and his works. The mystery surrounding Edwin Drood and the way the author surmises a 'real life' scenario that explains how the story might have ended is fascinating. It is a bit slow to take off--I especially got confused by the bits about Dicken's son in India, not knowing how that figured into the story. When the mystery of the 'real life' Drood began to take shape it became hard to stop listening. It made me want to read more Dickens--and that's a good thing!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    In this novel Matthew Pearl speculates on what happened to Dickens' last manuscript and surrounds it with interesting characters and a lively romp through London, on board a ship, and in New York City.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is an interesting novel full of nineteenth century atmosphere. There is much to like in this novel - the Bookaneers, the scenes set in Boston, the mystery surrounding the existence, or not, of an ending to 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood'. The main plot of the book is also interesting and inventive and Pearl's solution to the ending of the book is well thought out. But I found the sections set around Frank Dickens in India, fairly pointless and a distraction from the plot. I'm also not convinced by the flashback sections describing the events of Dickens's last US tour as these felt cumbersome. But on balance, as the portrayal of the ruthlessness of the US publishing industry in the late nineteenth century, is so fascinating, especially as many of the names, Harper, Little Brown, are still familiar to us today, I have to say that I enjoyed this book. There are some insightful scenes which describe Dickens's, Field's and Osgood's manoeuvres as they attempt to protect Dickens rights in the US and try to prevent other US publisher from undermining this.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Matthew Pearl's The Last Dickens is one of a number of books about Charles Dickens' last, albeit unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. But what sets this novel apart from its compatriots is Pearl's ability to build suspense and extrapolate from historical events to create a palpable underbelly of the publishing world. "A man stretched out on a crusty, ragged couch granted them admission into a corridor, after which they ascended a narrow stairs where every board groaned at their steps; perhaps out of despair, perhaps to warn the inhabitants." (Page 199 of hardcover)Charles Dickens' final, incomplete novel--he only completed six installments--caused a great deal of controversy as to whether the author indeed had not finished the manuscript, which in those days were released in installments. Pearl mimics this method by breaking up the narration into separate installments--from the Boston publishing house, Dickens' American tour, Dickens' son Frank in India at the height of the opium trade, and in England as Dickens' American publisher Mr. Osgood with his bookkeeper Rebecca Sand search for the lost installments and the true end of Dickens' final novel."At the top of the stick was an exotic and ugly golden idol, the head of a beast, a horn rising from the top, terrible mouth agape, sparks of fire shooting from its outstretched tongue. It was mesmerizing to behold. Not just because of its shining ugliness, but also because it was such a contrast to the stranger's own mouth, mostly hidden under an ear-to-ear mustache. The man's lips barely managed to pry open his mouth when he spoke." (Page 8 of hardcover)Pearl includes an examination of the historical accuracies in the novel and which characters were pure fiction or modified historical figures. One part mystery, one part historical fiction, and one part crime novel, The Last Dickens weaves a complex and detailed story that holds readers rapt attention from beginning to end.While the chapters involving Frank Dickens' time in India uncovering an opium trade are not as prominent as some of the other narratives, it is intricately connected to the main story. However, some readers could find these chapters frustrating because of the gap between those chapters, which could either leave readers frustrated that the tale of Frank Dickens is dropped or anxious for its conclusion. Most readers are likely to err on the side of anxiety, wanting to know more."There are many reasons murder is not always found out, and they are not always for cunning. The reason might be the fatigue among those who have been deadened on the inside." (Page 264 of hardcover)Osgood is not easily swayed when he is hot on the trail of the missing installments and the end of Dickens' novel, and as each layer of the mystery is peeled back for the reader, the dark, cutthroat publishing industry is revealed. Bookaneers are the bottom feeders of the publishing industry, waiting on the docks for the latest installments from the Old World, while publishing giants from New York, like Harper, are eager to acquire these installments by any means necessary and at the expense of their competitors.The Last Dickens is not just about an unfinished novel or the dark side of publishing. It also takes a look at human conviction in the face of adversity and how perseverance and a moral compass can yield surprising results. Pearl is a mystery master, and ,i>The Last Dickens will not disappoint its readers.