Dickens tells the story of how young London became the greatest aspiring English novelist. In the wake of the shifts and twists of Charles Dickens' early career, Robert Douglas Fairhurst follows a remarkable double shift: in reinventing Dickens himself, he reinvented the novel. It was a high-risk gamble, and Dickens never forgot how things were different.

Such as the champion Dombey and Son, remained haunted by "what could have been, and what was not." In his life, Dickens was without rivals. He designed himself simply "extraordinary".

But he was not always confident of his standing in the world. From his painful childhood to the suicide of his first collaborator and the sudden death of a woman who had a good claim that he was the love of his life, Dickens faced strong obstacles.

Before settling on the novelist's career, he tried to extend his hand to law and journalism, considered a career in acting, and even thought of emigrating to the West Indies. But with the papers of Becwick, Oliver Twist, a series of plays, drawings and leading essays, he managed to turn every possible collapse into a breakthrough.

Douglas Fairhurst's new provocative biography, which focused on the 1830s, depicts Dickens restlessly and uncertainly, unable to make a decision about the career path to take, and never feel secure in his great achievements.