Kirjahaku

First published in 1981, this book attempts to approach a better understanding of Disraeli the man through his life as a novelist. It is not a series of literary criticisms, rather an attempt to see how ‘fiction’ and the act of ‘fictionalising’ played an important part in Disraeli’s life. The author discusses how Disraeli’s novels in terms of how they reflected various stages of his life and development while assuming no knowledge of the, now mostly out-of-print, books on the part of the reader. This book fills the gap between the standard and comprehensive political biographies and the few literary analyses that appeared the twenty years prior to its publication.

First published in 1981, this book attempts to approach a better understanding of Disraeli the man through his life as a novelist. It is not a series of literary criticisms, rather an attempt to see how ‘fiction’ and the act of ‘fictionalising’ played an important part in Disraeli’s life. The author discusses how Disraeli’s novels in terms of how they reflected various stages of his life and development while assuming no knowledge of the, now mostly out-of-print, books on the part of the reader. This book fills the gap between the standard and comprehensive political biographies and the few literary analyses that appeared the twenty years prior to its publication.

Following Charles Dickens’s death, his friend and biographer, John Forster, discovers a ‘lost’ manuscript that provides a radically different view of the year the young author spent working in a blacking factory. But is the account fact or fiction? In the 1820s the Dickens family arrive to start a new life in London . Charles (‘Charley’) is just eleven and looking to continue his education. However, instead of being sent to school – and as his family fall deeply into debt – he is put to work in a boot-blacking factory at Hungerford Stairs. With his father soon cast into the Marshalsea debtors prison, Charley’s eagerness to earn an extra shilling sees him drawn into a criminal network led by the dark figure of Mr Magnus. The combination of demeaning factory work with this new and dangerous criminal activity places a huge burden on Charley, at a time when his mother and siblings are increasingly dependent on him. Life becomes even more complicated when Charley is approached by the mysterious Mr Hesketh. How can the future novelist balance the demands of family, paid work and the London underworld amidst a situation that moves swiftly from casual abuse to violence, and ultimately the hangman’s noose?

When Kitty falls to her death in one of Covent Garden’s seedier tenements at the end of 1735, it’s seen as an unfortunate accident. But the memory haunts the nightmares of Kitty’s neighbour, Jeremiah Potts. Jeremiah scrapes his own poor living by running errands for local artists, the most famous being William Hogarth – seemingly unstoppable since the success of his Harlot’s Progress. Hogarth has started work on a new painting that shows a woman walking across Covent Garden Piazza. The image raises immediate questions for the artist’s wife, Jane – but also appears to hark back to something in her husband’s past. A similar, half-forgotten history torments another local resident, Prudence Hyssop, who is determined that the New Year of 1736 should signal a fresh start. Meanwhile, gentleman-painter Jonathan Smallow has one thing only in mind. Murder. In a fast-moving tale of lost innocence, thwarted ambition, artistic skulduggery, and blind passion, the lives of Jeremiah, Prudence, Smallow, and the Hogarths are thrown together in new and unforeseen ways. Set against the vibrant backdrop of Covent Garden, Mr Hogarth’s Morning paints a compelling picture that blends dark desires with colourful comedy to create a totally new and unforgettable view of eighteenth-century London.

Twelve months have passed since the events surrounding the mystery of Hungerford Stairs. The young Charles Dickens (‘Charley’) has gone back to school – but a new adventure is about to unfold. When the body of a young girl is washed up beside the River Thames at Blackfriars Bridge, policeman Robert Hesketh finds himself faced with a new and daunting puzzle. Needing to delve beneath the surface of an itinerant waxworks show that may be the cover for a devilish plot, he calls once again on the services of Charley – ‘The Inimitable’ – the very smart, young man who helped him smash a raft of criminal conspiracies just the year before. When Charley’s close neighbour and friend, Mary Ann Mitton, disappears, the need to uncover this latest dark network of crime becomes pressingly urgent – and very personal. While Hesketh suspects that several eminent figures are involved in sponsoring a scheme of organised corruption and child abuse, the evidence is thin. Just two words that keep recurring in odd and apparently unrelated ways: Obadiah Grange. Can Hesketh’s and Charley’s joint efforts to discover the meaning of Obadiah Grange produce results before the tide of abuse claims its next victim?