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Drood

By Dan Simmons

(29)

| Others | 9781847249326

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Book Description

Sealed for 125 years, a secret manuscript by Charles Dickens' friend and some-time collaborator Wilkie Collins, reveals the dark secret that obsessed both men - a secret that not only ended their long friendship, but also brought each writer to the very brink of murder. On June 9, 1865, while travelContinue

Sealed for 125 years, a secret manuscript by Charles Dickens' friend and some-time collaborator Wilkie Collins, reveals the dark secret that obsessed both men - a secret that not only ended their long friendship, but also brought each writer to the very brink of murder. On June 9, 1865, while traveling by train to London with his secret mistress, 53-year-old Charles Dickens - at the height of his powers and popularity - hurtled into a disaster that changed his life forever. His train jumped the rail and plummeted into the marsh below. Dickens assisted the maimed and dying but the experience shook him to the core.His personality visibly darkened, his famous public readings began to focus on the most violent scenes he'd ever written, especially the terrible murder of Nancy by Bill Sykes in Oliver Twist. The author acted out the murder, adding dialogue and gesture, screaming, begging, strangling and cutting. By night Dickens and Collins began stalking the underbelly of London, obsessed with corpses, catacombs, murders, lime pits, opium dens, disguises and serial killers. Research - or something darker? Or perhaps Wilkie Collins - a laudanum addict with a seething, Salieri-esque jealousy of Dickens' success - had another agenda?

Critics

  • Dickens — The Dark Years

    Drood by Dan Simmons Reviewed by Doug Brown Powells.com On June 9, 1865, Charles Dickens, along with his mistress and her mother, survived a famous railway disaster at Staplehurst, England. He was deeply affected by the experience, even mentioning th ... (read full critics)

    powells published on Sat, 20 Aug 2011

  • DROOD

    Drood. Just say it. Let the name roll over your tongue. Feels good, right? Substantial yet ethereal? Okay, whatever. But substantial and ethereal describe this novel to a tee, Dan Simmons’s follow-up to 2007’s similarly substantial and ethereal histo ... (read full critics)

    shotsmag published on Thu, 30 Sep 2010

2 Reviews

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  • Simmons doesn't cease to amaze me!

    A very well researched mystery about the last 5 years of Dickens live, told so brilliantly by his former friend and later rival Wilkie Collins, that almost makes you believe it as true.

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    noebierzo said on Mar 6, 2010 | Add your feedback

  • Listened to the audiobook version read by John Lee who becomes Wilkie Collins and brings Dan Simmons version of Collins' Dickensian London to life. The ultimate 'unreliable author'.

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    Alan Taylor said on Jul 23, 2009 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

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