The Dickens Boy

In 1868, Charles Dickens dispatches his youngest child to Australia. Like his brother Alfred before him, sixteen-year-old Edward is expected to learn to apply himself in what his father considers to be the new land of opportunity.

Posted to a remote sheep station in New South Wales, Edward discovers that Charles Dickens' fame has reached even there, as has the gossip about his father's scandalous liaison with an actress. Amid colonists, ex-convicts, local tribespeople and a handful of eligible young women, Edward strives to be his own man - and keep secret the fact that he's read none of his father's novels.

Conjuring up a life of sheep-droving, horse-racing and cricket tournaments in a community riven with tensions and prejudice, the story of Edward's adventures also affords an intimate portrait of Dickens' himself. This vivacious novel is classic Keneally: historical figures and events re-imagined with verve, humour and compassion.

(P)2020 Penguin Random House Australia Ltd

About the Author :
Thomas Keneally began his writing career in 1964 and has published thirty-one novels since. They include Schindler's Ark, which won the Booker Prize in 1982 and was subsequently made into the film Schindler's List, and The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith, Confederates and Gossip From The Forest, each of which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His most recent novels include The Daughters Of Mars, which was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize in 2013, Napoleon's Last Island, Crimes of the Father and The Book of Science and Antiquities. He has also written several works of non-fiction, including his memoir Homebush Boy, Searching for Schindler and Australians. He is married with two daughters and lives in Sydney.

Review :
An engrossing and transporting read [A] genial, wry recreation of [Edward Dickens'] time in remote New South Wales A bustling picaresque tale . . . there are some unforgettably vivid scenes in this rompy but emotive story of bruised youth. [An] absorbing novel . . . Plorn himself is a joy Keneally has brought off a notable double: a delightful and continuously interesting portrayal of mid-19th century life in the rolling sheep pastures of New South Wales and an acute and persuasive examination of the mystery that Charles Dickens still presents, and of the enduring fascination he exerts over us today. The Dickens Boy . . . is energetic, even exuberant. It is in love with the abundance of life it negotiates. An ingenious, hilarious novel . . . Keneally does what he does so well: he plucks people from the pages of history and gives them emotional lives A dashing, crisply written book Keneally is a master at weaving historical figures and events into compelling works of fiction and so he does with his new book Rewarding terrain for a much-loved novelist Tender and wry as the novel is, it has a tough-minded postcolonial core . . . Keneally's other life as a historian informs every page; his is an antique footnote swelled up to life-size A vibrant novel