Such a sum, he reckoned, might extricate him from debt. If he could quickly turn that story into a book – a Christmas story in time for the season – perhaps he could earn £1,000. But as he walked, an idea for a story suddenly came to him. What happened next seems a kind of Victorian-era Christmas miracle.Īfter making his speech, Dickens wandered disconsolately through the dark streets of Manchester. The fabled author was even asking himself if he should give up fiction writing. “is marriage was troubled, his career tottering, his finances ready to collapse,” writes Les Standiford. As a boy he watched his father go to jail for unpaid bills, a searing experience of which he would write, “I never afterwards forgot, I shall never forget, I never can forget.”īy 1843, Dickens was mired in woes. He produced a couple of duds – and then slipped into debt.ĭebt was a particularly horrifying prospect for Dickens. After a string of successful books, the great writer suddenly seemed to lose his way. Even though he was the superstar author of the wildly popular “The Pickwick Papers” and “The Adventures of Oliver Twist” – and that evening’s keynote speaker at an important charitable event – inside the man was in turmoil.Īs young celebrities often do, Dickens (the father of five) had overspent. 5, 1843, things were looking bleak for 31-year-old Charles Dickens.
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