"The streets of London and the people of London fascinated the boy. He could never have enough of watching them...." From these childhood observations came some of the world's most beloved books, immortalizing the best and worst of Victorian England. The story of the early years of the man who wrote them is movingly told in this distinguished new book by an outstanding author.

The fascination of the London streets was Charles Dickens's only entertainment during his miserable days as an apprentice in a blacking factory. He was always appalled by the wretched misery of old and young alike which he observed about him, an abhorrence which was no less strong by 1836, when he was beginning to be well established as an author. By that time the seeds of his later works were already firmly planted in his mind—the little watercress girl who became Florence Dombey, the London slum urchins who all together became Oliver Twist, the crippled son of his own sister Fanny who became Tiny Tim, and many other of his incomparable characters.

Dickens's awareness of the human situation and his talent for capturing it speaks for itself in his memorable works. Miss Kyle has sensitively introduced the origins of these books in this moving portrait of a genius's early years.

From the dust jacket