Charles Dickens, A Very Peculiar History PDF Download

Author: Fiona Macdonald
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
ISBN: 1908759011
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 189

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Book Description
Taking a unique look at one of the most acclaimed and best-loved English writers of the nineteenth century, 'Charles Dickens, A Very Peculiar History' asks why, what, where, how and who the Dickens was Charles Dickens? Why did he keep a pet raven that pecked at his children's shins? Why did he have a tunnel built under the road in front of his country house? Was his dying corpse really carried from his mistress's house where he collapsed to his family home, so that he could die 'respectably'? Find out the answers to these questions and even more bizarre ones throughout the book, which features quirky stories and fascinating trivia about this singularly complex man and consummate artist.

Author: Fiona Macdonald
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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Book Description

Author: Fiona Macdonald
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
ISBN: 190875902X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 103

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Book Description
Just when you thought it was safe to take a sneak peek into your stocking, it's 'Christmas: A Very Peculiar History'. Taking an unbiased view of the myth and mystery surrounding the origins of the yuletide season, this book introduces mindbending facts about the holiday season and shatters the myths surrounding some of Christmas' most treasured and well-known facets: When exactly was Jesus born? Why is Santa's outfit red and white? Where do we get Christmas trees from? What's the snow in a snowglobe made of? What's Boxing Day all about? 'Christmas: A Very Peculiar History' takes a sideways look at bizarre yuletide customs and stories from around the world, such as Santa's evil sidekick, the terrifying Krampus, and the Scandinavian celebration of Saint Lucy. So leave the mince pies on the mantlepiece if you've been good and block up your chimneys if you've been bad, because 'Christmas: A Very Peculiar History' is here.

Author: Lloyd Jones
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1459616359
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
Lloyd Jones' new novel is set mainly in a small village on Bougainville, a country torn apart by civil war. Matilda attends the school set up by Mr Watts, the only white man on the island. By his own admission he's not much of a teacher and proceeds to educate the children by reading them Great Expectations. Matilda falls in love with the novel, strongly identifying with Pip. The promise of the next chapter is what keeps her going; Pip's story protects her from the horror of what is happening around her - helicopters menacing the skies above the village and rebel raids on the ground. When the rebels visit the village searching for any remaining men to join their cause, they discover the name Pip written in the sand and instigate a search for him. When Pip can't be found the soldiers destroy the book. Mr Watts then encourages the children to retell the story from their memories. Then when the rebels invade the village, the teacher tells them a story which lasts seven nights, about a boy named Pip, and a convict . . .

Author: David Arscott
Publisher: The Salariya Book Company
ISBN: 1912233371
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
Winston Churchill, voted the greatest Briton of all time in a recent public poll, led a life rich in accomplishments, and this fast-paced chronological guide delves into the many ups and downs of his life and career. Marvel at his derring-do and precocious abilities as a young man during the Boer War, wince at his blunders as Home Secretary in the Liberal government, laugh along with his talent for self-promotion and admire his steely resolve during the Second World War. Featuring a beautiful gatefold illustration of Chartwell and its grounds, black and white illustrations, witty anecdotes, incredible trivia, a timeline and glossary, readers of all ages will be entertained and educated.

Author: Jim Pipe
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
ISBN: 1908759127
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
Charting the quirky past of one of the most important cities in the world, 'London, A Very Peculiar History' will challenge what you thought you knew about this great capital and blow your mind with things you most certainly didn't. From Roman roads to the congestion charge, this title takes a whistlestop tour of iconic London landmarks and eras, whilst poking its head round the corner of the back alleys to see what's really been going on behind the scenes. Alongside the Top Ten Tourist Attractions you'll find curious recipes for cockney food (such as jellied 'iwz'), descriptions of London's 'lost buildings', and lists of royal residences, famous markets and classic film scenes featuring London landmarks. With humourous cartoon-style illustrations and amusing captions and speech bubbles, 'London: A Very Peculiar History' tells the untold tale of Britain's greatest tourist attraction, busiest commercial district and home to the Royals.

Author: Charles Dickens
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 104

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The Chimes A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In, a short novel by Charles Dickens, was written and published in 1844, one year after A Christmas Carol. It is the second in his series of Christmas books five short books with strong social and moral messages that he published during the 1840's.

Author: Robert Garnett
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1639360182
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
Using hundreds of primary sources, Charles Dickens in Love narrates the story of the most intense romances of Charles Dickens' life and shows how his novels both testify to his own strongest affections and serve as memorials to the young women he loved all too well, if not always wisely. When Charles Dickens died in 1870, he was the best-known man in the English-speaking world - the preeminent Victorian celebrity, universally mourned as both a noble spirit and the greatest of novelists. Yet, the first person named in his will was an unknown woman named Ellen Ternan - only a handful of people had any idea who she was. Of his romance with Ellen, Dickens had written, "it belongs to my life and probably will only die out of the same with the proprietor," and so it was. She remained the most important person in his life until his death. She was not the first woman who had fired his imagination. As a young man he had fallen deeply in love with a woman who "pervaded every chink and crevice" of his mind for three years, Maria Beadnell. When she eventually jilted him he vowed that "I never can love any human creature but yourself." A few years later he was stunned by the sudden death of his young sister-in-law, Mary Scott Hogarth, and worshiped her memory for the rest of his life. "I solemnly believe that so perfect a creature never breathed," he declared, and he died over thirty years later still wearing her ring. Charles Dickens has no rival as the most fertile creative imagination since William Shakespeare, and no one influenced his imagination more powerfully than these three women, his muses and teachers in the school of love.

Author: A.N. Wilson
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062954962
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description
Winner of the Plutarch Award for Best Biography A lively and insightful biographical celebration of the imaginative genius of Charles Dickens, published in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of his death. Charles Dickens was a superb public performer, a great orator and one of the most famous of the Eminent Victorians. Slight of build, with a frenzied, hyper-energetic personality, Dickens looked much older than his fifty-eight years when he died—an occasion marked by a crowded funeral at Westminster Abbey, despite his waking wishes for a small affair. Experiencing the worst and best of life during the Victorian Age, Dickens was not merely the conduit through whom some of the most beloved characters in literature came into the world. He was one of them. Filled with the twists, pathos, and unusual characters that sprang from this novelist’s extraordinary imagination, The Mystery of Charles Dickens looks back from the legendary writer’s death to recall the key events in his life. In doing so, he seeks to understand Dickens’ creative genius and enduring popularity. Following his life from cradle to grave, it becomes clear that Dickens’s fiction drew from his life—a fact he acknowledged. Like Oliver Twist, Dickens suffered a wretched childhood, then grew up to become not only a respectable gentleman but an artist of prodigious popularity. Dickens knew firsthand the poverty and pain his characters endured, including the scandal of a failed marriage. Going beyond standard narrative biography, A. N. Wilson brilliantly revisits the wellspring of Dickens’s vast and wild imagination, to reveal at long last why his novels captured the hearts of nineteenth century readers—and why they continue to resonate today. The Mystery of Charles Dickens is illustrated with 30 black-and-white images.

Author: David Paroissien
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470691220
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 536

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Book Description
A Companion to Charles Dickens concentrates on the historical, ideological, and social forces that defined Dickens’s world. Puts Dickens’s work into its literary, historical, and social contexts Traces the development of Dickens’s career as a journalist and novelist Includes original essays by leading Dickensian scholars on each of Dickens’s fifteen novels Explores a broad range of topics, including criticisms of his novels, the use of history and law in his fiction, language, and the effect of political and social reform Examines Dickens's legacy and surveys the mass of secondary materials that has been generated in response and reverence to his writing