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The Haunting of Charles Dickens

by Lewis Buzbee (Goodreads Author), Greg Ruth (Illustrations)

3.6 of 5 stars 3.60 · rating details · 121 ratings · 39 reviews

Meg Pickel’s older brother, Orion, has disappeared. One night, she steals out to look for him, and makes two surprising discoveries: She stumbles upon a séance that she suspects involves Orion, and she meets the author Charles Dickens, also unable to sleep, and roaming the London streets. He is a customer of Meg’s father, who owns a print shop, and a family friend. Mr. D

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Hardcover, 368 pages

Published October 26th 2010 by Feiwel & Friends (first published September 1st 2009)

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Jan 13, 2011 Margaret rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s-and-ya-fiction, arc, historical-fiction, authors-ab

Meg Pickel's older brother Orion mysteriously disappeared months ago, much to the dismay of Meg's family, who run a print shop. When Meg sneaks out one night to look for Orion, she discovers a séance which might hold a clue, and there she encounters an old friend of the family, Charles Dickens. Dickens is concerned about the many disappearances of children from the streets of London, and he and Meg join together to find Orion and solve the mystery.

I wanted to love this, I really did. I adored Bu...more

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Nov 06, 2012 Jennifer Wardrip rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: trt-posted-reviews

Reviewed by Kira M for TeensReadToo.com

19th-century London is not a safe place for children, especially a girl like Meg Pickel. Boys and girls are going missing all over. Meg's family has been torn apart by the disappearance of her own brother, Orion, six months ago.

Now that her brother is gone, Meg is plagued with insomnia. While wandering the streets late one night, she runs into the family's friend, Charles Dickens, who is also suffering from lack of sleep. When an insomnia-ridden conversatio...more

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Mar 05, 2012 Courtney Johnston rated it 3 of 5 stars

I love the idea of this book. Dickens (big right now - good advance picking, Buzbee) is famed for his midnight walks round London - solitary walking was an immense part of his creative practice.

Buzbee takes these lost hours, and inserts into them a solid mystery story. Twelve-year-old Meg Pickel's older brother Orion has been missing for six months. She slips into the London streets one midnight, and happens upon Dickens, also out searching - searching for his next story.

Dickens happens to be a...more I love the idea of this book. Dickens (big right now - good advance picking, Buzbee) is famed for his midnight walks round London - solitary walking was an immense part of his creative practice.

Buzbee takes these lost hours, and inserts into them a solid mystery story. Twelve-year-old Meg Pickel's older brother Orion has been missing for six months. She slips into the London streets one midnight, and happens upon Dickens, also out searching - searching for his next story.

Dickens happens to be a friend of the Pickel family; he buys his paper from their printing shop. And as he waits for inspiration to strike him, he joins with Meg in the hunt for Orion.

The book is a pastiche, and a reasonably successful one: it brims with Dickensian language and outrage at the unfair treatment of London's poor and lost children. Buzbee sprinkles the book heavily with references to Dickens' books; the fossilised wedding cake and scuttling spiders of 'Great Expectations', an Old Curiosity Shop, the appearance of characters named Mr Micawber, Jenny Wren and Miss Podsnap, and probably many more than I don't catch, not being very familiar with the books myself.

The evocation of Victorian London is rather fantastic, and I imagine will appeal a lot to younger readers' imaginations:

It is a truth universally acknowledged that within the hub-bub of any grand city, a pair of friends might find a quiet bubble within which to cocoon themselves from all the commotion. It is not that the walkers create, by force of concentration, such a bubble of silence to inhabit; the commotion itself creates such bubbles. Stand by a rushing brook or near the crashing ocean, and you will see bubbles. It was in one such bubble of silence that Meg and Mr Dickens found themselves. Al the way from Cheapside down Queen's Street, until they reached the docks and the Thames, Meg and Mr Dickens were able to speak, as if in private, while the river of London flowed noisily around them.

The book has some sizable flaws though. The unneeded reference at the start of the paragraph above is a wee example - they start off being amusing as a 'knowing' reader, but become tiresome: a young reader is likely to not derive anything from them (I can see they're all about the joy of reading, but others have done this much better: see Rebecca Stead here). There's an odd, unexplained supernatural appearance at the start of the story which goes unused; there's a rather pointless set-piece in which Meg and Mr Dickens, exploring Penny Lane, happen upon four young men cleaning a fireman who break into song. And there's a couple of overt grrl-power moments dropped clunkety-clunk-clunk into the narrative:

It is generally accepted of reality that there are fields of endeavour suited to the male sex and fields of endeavour suited to the female sex. It is also assumed, generally, that what men will do women ought not to do. ...
Perhaps there will come a time - can we strain our minds to imagine a future one hundred, even two hundred years hence - in which women and men will compete for the same positions of skill and adventure. But that time is not now. Now, today, 1862, in the year of our good Queen's Silver Jubilee, we assume that women will tend to the home, while men will shoulder other duties.

All this I will forgive though for a transcendentally appealing passage about operating a printing press, redolent with archaic jargon, thumping sounds, sticky ink, deft movements, and the joy of mastery. 'The Haunting of Charles Dickens' is a love letter to reading and the making of books - if at times the emotion is a little cringingly expressed, then, well - who can blame the guy? (less)

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Oct 22, 2012 A.J. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, victorian, unowned, what-the-dickens-and-friends, 19th-century

Meg's brother Orion is missing. On a midnight rooftop escapade she runs into Charles Dickens, a family friend and fellow insomniac. They witness a fake seance, which leads them to believe that Orion may be prisoner somewhere and it is up to them to find and free him. With the help of the rest of Meg's family and a sundry cast of worthy Victorian characatures, they set out on a quest to bring him home.

Quite a good book for what it is. I sense that it's well-suited to the upper-middle-grade/youngi...more Meg's brother Orion is missing. On a midnight rooftop escapade she runs into Charles Dickens, a family friend and fellow insomniac. They witness a fake seance, which leads them to believe that Orion may be prisoner somewhere and it is up to them to find and free him. With the help of the rest of Meg's family and a sundry cast of worthy Victorian characatures, they set out on a quest to bring him home.

Quite a good book for what it is. I sense that it's well-suited to the upper-middle-grade/youngish-young-adult set (thought having always been super ahead of my age in reading level I don't necessarily have the best perspective of what that actually is). But it's well written, has a strong female protagonist, and a great family dynamic that I really enjoyed. It's true to the period without being graphic or inappropriate, and it conjures up the world and style of Dickens himself nicely for kids/teens who may not be quite ready to bite off the Great Man himself.

My quibble with the book comes from the way it conjures up Dickens; I constantly felt like it was trying so hard to be clever that it undercut the very things that it was doing so well. My two main issues were:
(view spoiler)

Those two mini-rants aside, I did enjoy the book, and I would gladly recommend it as a gateway to Dickens/Victorian literature for younger readers.(less)

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Apr 05, 2012 Hope rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have seen this book in my local library number of times and each time I would overlook it. I was never on my list of book s to read. for the most part when I go to the library I have specific books in mind and that is what I am on the lookout for. I might notice some other books that I might be interested but for the most part I overlook them. This time I decided to give e this books a try.

I was intrigued about this story because Charles Dickens is one of the main characters in the book. I am...more I have seen this book in my local library number of times and each time I would overlook it. I was never on my list of book s to read. for the most part when I go to the library I have specific books in mind and that is what I am on the lookout for. I might notice some other books that I might be interested but for the most part I overlook them. This time I decided to give e this books a try.

I was intrigued about this story because Charles Dickens is one of the main characters in the book. I am a big fan of Charles Dickenson’s works, I have read all of his books, but it’s been a while. I wanted to see what the author came up in this story. I have to say that for the most part this was a good read and I did enjoy it. However I did feel that it needed more excitement or more action if you will. Based on the description of the book I was expecting more from this book, I was expecting more action, more intrigue.

The author does a good job with the story telling and writing. Writing and character development was very good. I really liked how the author incorporated the life of Charles Dickens and child labour into the story. This book touches on a very sensitive issue that was big problem at that time and that is problem today in third world countries where the kids are forced into child labour in order to survive.

All the characters were very much liked, Meg Pickel was a very brave and smart girl. I liked Meg she was very outspoken and caring, she just wanted to find her brother and same all the other children that were forced into labour. I liked that the author does not concentrate a lot on the issues of male versus female place in the world for this time period. Girls cannot do this or that because they are girls. It’s not that these issues did not matter to the author because they did since he does touch on it, but he does not let that drive the plot. Rather Meg is more free and not confined into the role of female. I really like how Meg and Orion were close as sister and brother. But you only hear from Meg how the two of them were close, we do not see this at the end of the book when she sees saves her brother. I was waiting for the reunion between Meg and Orion but it did not happen. It was anticlimactic.

Overall this was a good read and I enjoyed it very much, but I did not love it. the writing was very good, story line was alright, characters were well developed. I give this books 3/5 STARS – Happy Reading everyone. (less)

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Aug 03, 2011 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorite-historical-fiction

I picked up this book thinking it might be a great read-aloud for my 5th grade classroom. Score! With a female main character and a missing older brother, this will interest both boys and girls. I really enjoyed it myself and may spark a renewed interest in Charles Dickens' novels. Hopeful that Buzbee will continue to write about Meg in future novels.

"Meg Pickel’s older brother, Orion, has disappeared. One night, she steals out to look for him, and makes two surprising discoveries: She stumbles...more

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Jan 19, 2011 Eileen Granfors rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, families, historical-fiction, local-color, police-procedural-mystery, ya-early

Nifty historical novel. . . loved the first chapter.

Lewis Buzbee shines his lantern into the eccentricities of Charles Dickens in this children's/YA novel, "The Haunting of Charles Dickens." It is a highly readable, mysterious tale that explores Dickens the man as well as Dickens, The Great Man. Celebrity throughout history has always been less of a pleasure than people expect it to be in their original quest for fame. Once attained, the status tends to drag them down as opposed to lifting them...more

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May 18, 2013 Hazel West rated it 4 of 5 stars

Thoughts on the Overall Book: This was one of those books that when I started it, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not. It's starts out slow, and I was worried that the mystery of Meg's brother's disappearance would turn out not to be all that interesting. However, about a third of the way in, the book takes a really interesting turn, that immediately made me sit up and speed through the rest. It was one that I really didn't know what the book was going to be about when I started it, b...more Thoughts on the Overall Book: This was one of those books that when I started it, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not. It's starts out slow, and I was worried that the mystery of Meg's brother's disappearance would turn out not to be all that interesting. However, about a third of the way in, the book takes a really interesting turn, that immediately made me sit up and speed through the rest. It was one that I really didn't know what the book was going to be about when I started it, but ended up being really good.

Cover--Yea or Nay: I really like the cover. I was excited to see the book was illustrated by Greg Ruth (I loved his work in the "Secret Journey's of Jack London" series) and he's probably one of my favorite illustrators at the moment. There's just something about his style I really like.

Characters: Like the story, I wasn't exactly sure what I felt about Meg at first. I liked how she was worried about her brother disappearing, and that she was willing to do whatever she had to do to get him back, even if the rest of her family had given up hope, but she almost came across as a little bit naive, and almost borderline bratty on occasion. However, as the story progressed, she just became a strong and very smart heroine, and I have to take it into account that she's only about 12 or so too, so she is still young. I really liked Orion right off though, even though most of what the reader knows about him is just from Meg's memories and flashbacks. I also loved the inclusion of Charles Dickens. I always love it when famous authors are incorporated into novels, and I have read several novels featuring Dickens. Sadly, I have yet to actually read his books, but Charles as himself has already endeared me to him.

The Romance: None!

Writing Style: I liked the writing style, it was classic and fit the time period, and I do believe was a bit reminiscent of Dickens's. The only thing that bothered me about it was that there was an "unknown narrator" who spoke in various places and those were in present tense whereas the rest of the story was in past. It wasn't totally jarring, but it stopped me for a few seconds when I came to one of those places. I really liked how the author portrayed the darker side of London at this time period too, and how children were treated, which was horrible at the best of times. Since this is a kids' book, there was nothing mentioned in any detail, but you still got an insight of the horror of the workhouses and how cruel they treated the poor orphans there and how they press-ganged any children they could find. You get the idea of the horror and to me, it's almost worse than having it put all in front of you.

Problems/What bothered me: The only thing that really bothered me was the fact that I really saw no reason for the inclusion of the ghost boy "Dick Wittington". You see him once in the first few chapters, but he never re-appears, nor did I see any ah-ha correlation to him in any other aspect of the story. I kind of got how he represented "eternal childhood" but I still didn't really see how that all tied in. I think the story would have been just as good without his inclusion.

Conclusion: 4 stars. I ended up really enjoying this book, and it ended on a good note with a happy ending, but also had a tad of bittersweetness as well. I liked seeing Meg grow up in the story from how we originally see her--a dreamer who thinks of the world like a novel--to who she becomes by the end of the story--a bit more world weary, and finally able to realize that not everything can be fixed, at least not right away, and that there really is no conclusion to life like in a novel.

Recommended Audience: Fans of Charles Dickens would enjoy this as a quick read. It's also a kind of easy read for Victorian mystery lovers. Girl or boy read, ages 12 and up.
(less)

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Jun 27, 2010 Brian James rated it 5 of 5 stars

Sometimes there are stories that are in my mind that I want to read, but know not within what pages they lie. As soon as I began this book, I knew it was one of those stories I'd been searching for a long time.

This book is so wonderful on so many levels that it's hard to know where to begin praising it. But I'll start with what is always the make or break for me and that is character. The main character, twelve year old Meg, is one of those characters you don't want to leave off and keeps you r...more

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May 24, 2012 Miss Pippi the Librarian rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adolescent-audio-adventures, juvenile-fiction, young-adult

Meg Pickel's older brother, Orion, has gone missing. She is determined to find him and the Dicken's novel that he took with him. As she spies a seance from a neighbor's roof, she meets author Charles Dickens. With the help of Mr. Dickens, Meg and Charles set out to find Orion in the city of London.

The haunting begins with the seance seen from the roof. The mysterious gathering is a cover for more dangerous activity with lost and stolen children. With a ghostly character named Peter, the ghostly...more

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Jan 15, 2012 Elizabeth Varadan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Take an unexplained disappearance. Bring in a ghost who points the way. Add Charles Dickens, who knows London’s troubled neighborhoods only too well. Stir in a plucky, thirteen-year-old girl who will let nothing stop her from tailing a dangerous kidnapping gang, and you have the grand, new middle-grade mystery by Lewis Buzbee, The Haunting of Charles Dickens.

Meg Pickel’s older brother, Orion, disappeared six months ago. Her family is still numb with shock. Each night, when everyone is asleep, Me...more

Take an unexplained disappearance. Bring in a ghost who points the way. Add Charles Dickens, who knows London’s troubled neighborhoods only too well. Stir in a plucky, thirteen-year-old girl who will let nothing stop her from tailing a dangerous kidnapping gang, and you have the grand, new middle-grade mystery by Lewis Buzbee, The Haunting of Charles Dickens.

Meg Pickel’s older brother, Orion, disappeared six months ago. Her family is still numb with shock. Each night, when everyone is asleep, Meg goes up to the roof-garden to brood. One night, a green glow from the skylight of the Satis House catches her attention and launches Meg on her own personal search for Orion. Part mystery, part ghost story, this intriguing tale leads a reader through twists and turns that parallel the dark streets and hidden alleys of Dickens’s London.

The Great Man, Dickens, is a regular customer at the Pickel family’s printing shop as well as being a close family friend. Orion’s disappearance affects him deeply. He and Meg team up as sleuths, accompanied by the family dog, Mulberry. They find clues on walls and dusty floors. Colorful characters offer them leads. Soon it is clear that Orion has been “press-ganged”, kidnapped into slave labor. Now it is up to Meg and Dickens to save Orion. But not just Orion: A ghost Meg and Dickens met earlier in the Satis House becomes the metaphor for all the ghosts of London’s forgotten children.

This is a fine adventure story with engaging characters, a complex plot, and writing that is rich and vivid. An added pleasure for Dickens lovers is the way Buzbee at times dips into the style of times and addresses the reader directly. And, in the same vein, names of characters give clues to their natures: Micawber; Mr. Hardlywaite; Jenny Wren; Mrs. Podsnap (married now to Mr. Bogle.) Scenes unfold that could be from a Dickens novel. Consider:

“….Out of the dark recess of a far corner, a shadow seemed to be swirling, and swirling, seemed to coalesce into a figure, the figure of a man dressed in the colors of a shadow. He was as thin as a lamp-post, with a long beard as thin as a smaller lamp-post. And he was staring right at Meg. Un-remarked by all, the man moved towards her, as if floating rather than walking. He did not take his eyes off her, nor did his lips stop moving….”

The Haunting of Charles Dickens will be in bookstores in October, 2010 (next month) – a must read for anyone who enjoys a good mystery, enjoys the writings of Charles Dickens, or enjoys any novel set in Victorian London. A triple treat for those who enjoy all three. The atmospheric black and white illustrations by Greg Ruth are a perfect choice for this ethereal tale.(less)

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Jul 26, 2011 Heidi rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: recorded-books-bhpl, gilded-research, historical-mystery, gilded-fiction

During most of this book, my biggest dilemma wasn't whether Charles Dickens would get over being haunted, or the missing boy found, but who this novel was written for.

I couldn't imagine kids really liking it. The main character, Meg Pickel, seems completely unreal, the sort of heroine who would be constructed by a middle-aged man. Charles Dickens comes across as a badly done parody of, well, Charles Dickens. The action is slow, with everybody constantly stopping to consume these elaborate meal...more

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Jul 23, 2011 Hallie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, history-project, audiobook

This was - confusing. Also rather confused, I think. There was a lot going on - as, of course, is the case with the typical Dickens novel - but sometimes one element seemed to interfere with another, and by the end, I wasn't sure quite what kind of story Buzbee had set out to write. One thing is pretty certain though, and that's that people who can't stand Dickens will be very unlikely to enjoy this book. A compliment in a way, because as a straight Dickens pastiche, it's quite successful.

Meg P...more This was - confusing. Also rather confused, I think. There was a lot going on - as, of course, is the case with the typical Dickens novel - but sometimes one element seemed to interfere with another, and by the end, I wasn't sure quite what kind of story Buzbee had set out to write. One thing is pretty certain though, and that's that people who can't stand Dickens will be very unlikely to enjoy this book. A compliment in a way, because as a straight Dickens pastiche, it's quite successful.

Meg Pickel is the 12-year-old daughter of a London printer, with a younger brother and an older one who disappeared six months ago. Her father, understandably distraught by the loss of his wife some years ago, and now the loss of his oldest child, has rather given up on anything except keeping the remaining children safe. But Meg has never given up on finding Orion, and out investigating a strange light from an abandoned house nearby one night, encounters Charles Dickens, a (fake) séance, a real spirit and - only glimpsed from the rooftop - her brother. Dickens has finished Great Expectations and has lost inspiration for his next book. He's also in hiding from the world, pretending to be in France. He and Meg set out to find and save Orion, despite Meg's father's worries.

Problem number one is that Great Expectations is absolutely finished, already in print (as a novel, even), and yet Meg and Dickens talk about the strangeness of the abandoned house's name - 'Satis House'. On returning to it and going in, they see the ruins of the wedding cake, complete with spiders and all. But Great Expectations is written. How can Buzbee have missed the obvious fact that it makes no sense for Dickens to see the scene that gives him inspiration for his writing about his NEXT novel and his PREVIOUS novel at the same time? I've been worrying this one over ever since encoutering the Satis House name, and am no closer to understanding what went wrong here than when I first heard it. (Audiobook, so it was quite a while ago!)

I've no problem with Dickens getting the idea that sparks Our Mutual Friend when he and Meg are going around London looking for Orion, as that is the novel after Great Expectations, and of course Dickens did get inspiration from things he saw and read about. But there are names from many of the books he'd already written by the time of Buzbee's book, including Oliver Twist and The Old Curiosity Shop and scenes heavily reminiscent of other books. Doesn't make any sense.

The low point though, for me, was when Meg asked Dickens not to read from Little Dorrit at one of his readings, and he asked her what she really thought of the book. She said that Dorrit isn't her favourite character, because she isn't her own hero. (Words to that effect, anyway, as it's hard to quote from audiobook.) He thinks about it and then says she's right, and if he had known her before writing Little Dorrit it would have been a better book. This may be unintentionally so, but it's ridiculously arrogant to claim that one's own character would have taught Dickens to be a better writer! Also - I'm sorry, but Meg wasn't a favourite of mine. Definitely brave and determined to rescue her brother, which was admirable, but also a bit of a spoiled madam, and seriously manipulative at times.

Aside from that, it seemed to me that the fact that both Meg and Dickens had actually seen a real spirit/ghost and talked to him, even, should have made a bit more of a difference to them and the story! It did encourage them both to keep trying even harder to save the real children being abused and exploited in London - the living dead, as Meg comes to call them - but nothing else.

Finally, in the pettiest of quibbles, I seriously doubted that a 12 year old girl in London in the 1860s would have been guzzling quite so much strong coffee. There were quite a few other little details that seemed wrong, but overall the feel of Dickensian London was really good. (less)

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Feb 27, 2011 Alan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-school, historical-fiction

ATOS Book Level: 6.0
Interest Level: Middle Grades Plus (MG+ 6 and up)
AR Points: 13.0
Word Count: 79887

I've only finished the first chapter but I'm hesitant to read much more. The prose doesn't flow well for me, I know it's just for background info and to set up their connection to Dickens, but the style of the writing comes across as flat.
Almost half way through and I find myself stopping to read reviews about the book to see if I should continue on. I did finally get caught up in the story when...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Shannon McGee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

The Pickel family owns a print shop and has customers/friends with the likes of Charles Dickens. The daughter of the house, Meg, is adventurous and daring. She is strong willed and tries to find her missing older brother. While traveling at night through London she unexpectedly meets Charles Dickens. They make a pact that they will save Meg’s brother.

I felt different enjoyment from this book then Buzbee’s Steinbeck Ghost. Instead of flowing into each book Steinbeck wrote this one was a whole new...more

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Aug 17, 2011 Cheryl Dickemper rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-school-novels

A good solid historical mystery, with just a touch of the supernatural, for middle school readers. This would be a great selection as a an introduction to Charles Dickens as a writer for a kid who might not be ready yet to tackle Great Expections. Dickens is a character in the novel, and Buzbee works hard at historical accuracy and atmosphere--there are lots of details about social problems, the mistreatment of children in 19th century England, printing presses, etc.

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Sep 01, 2011 Tutti rated it 5 of 5 stars

YA fiction is not my thing, but I do love a great historical mystery novel, and The Haunting of Charles Dickens is a corker. The mystery is compelling and the young heroine is plucky, smart and admirable. Dickens fans will find an array of Easter eggs to contemplate and savor. The action is tight, and the characters well drawn. Be warned: You'll want to read it straight though the dark and blustery night.

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Jul 19, 2011 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'd give the plot three stars - fairly interesting, if rather slow pacing at points. For beauty of language, however, five stars. There are some gorgeous sentences in this story, with delicious verbs and sensual similes.

The catch, though, is I wasn't sure what was Buzbee's and what was borrowed. I caught tastes of Woolf ("leaden circles dissolved in the air") and Austen ("truth universally acknowledged") but I'm sure many went right by me.

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Mar 08, 2012 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

It really took me a while to get into this one. In fact, after about 30 pages, I thought about quitting altogether. I kept going, though, and enjoyed the story. (There were still a few scenes that just felt entirely too slow for me, though, and I occasionally found my attention wandering.) I was a bit surprised at the appearance of characters with names from Dickens' previously published books, as this seemed a bit odd. And the whole Beatles bit on Penny Lane (banker, poppies, Mr. Kite, Lennon &...more

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Nov 17, 2011 Joni rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s-fiction

A wonderful, engrossing story of an intrepid young heroine, Charles Dickens, the setting of Victorian London and a ghost to add flavor. Mix it together and this book is a delightful yarn about the plight of children and the poor in England in the 19th century. Great historical setting and memorable characters.

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Sep 24, 2012 Karen! rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: not-so-probable, teen-lit

I was woefully disappointed by this book. So much potential in this premise that simply fell short. I love me some Dickens and I love me some mystery, but this was poorly executed and they basically lost me by page 50. But I soldiered on in hopes of bigger, better things.

Oh well. You can't win them all.

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Jan 24, 2011 Debbie Graham rated it 3 of 5 stars

Although it leaves you hanging there with some details, the book -which gets better as you move along-does a great job pulling you into the City and caring about the main character (girl!) as she searches for her brother. Strong middle school interest if they enjoy historical fiction/mysteries.

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Sep 07, 2010 Andrew Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars

Fortunate enough to have received an Advance Copy. This is one of those books you'll keep forever. It reads and feels like a great Dickensian tale, complete with perfectly executed illustrations. It's all things Dickens -- characters, wit, and a rousing good mystery.

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Dec 29, 2010 Natalie rated it 3 of 5 stars

It was an okay read, but I don't know if I would recommend it to my teens. There were bits of supernatural thrown in for no reason. Plus certain plot points just did not make sense. The author tried too hard to match the tone of a Dickens novel.

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Nov 12, 2011 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

The premise was interesting, but I found the execution slightly boring at times, and the writing was... different. I can't quite place what he was trying to do... so, not a "bad" book, but by no means was it spectacular.

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Jun 29, 2012 Lorelie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Love the way the author took the stylings of Dickens and wrote the book in that fashion. It wasn't just a novel with Dickens in it... it was very much in his style. Well done! good story. Enjoyable tale.

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May 23, 2012 Kate Merriman rated it 4 of 5 stars

Used book goodness arrived in the mail. Item 1 - "no longer property of the Queens Library" stamped on frontispiece. Item 2 - Nenita's dental appointment card left in book. Did Nenita remember to see Dr. Ben-Levy in Bayside, NY on Sept 20?

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Jun 20, 2011 Christi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook, characters-from-literature, criminals, england, ghosts, historical-fiction

Loved the way that this author infused the book with references to characters or scenes from many of Dicken's novels while telling a tale all it's own.

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Jul 06, 2012 Vicky rated it 3 of 5 stars

OK-I'm a Dickensian nerd-I admit it. I'm enjoying listening to this on CD in the car...

just finished it and found it somewhat predictable. I fell it's more geared for a young adult would be a good way to introduce Dickens to teens.

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Jun 01, 2011 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book - good mystery - gives you a glimpse of Charles Dickens life

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Lewis Buzbee is a fourth generation California native who began writing at the age of 15, after reading the first chapter of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. Since then he’s been a dishwasher, a bookseller, a publisher, a caterer, a bartender, and a teacher of writing (currently on the faculty of the MFA program at the University of San Francisco). He and his wife, the poet Julie Bruck, live...more

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“Maturity and experience shouldn't stop one from craving silly things like sliding down bannisters.” — 8 people liked it

“A bran' new book is a beautiful thing, all promise and fresh pages, the neatly squared spine, the brisk sense of a journey beginning. But a well-worn book also has its pleasures, the soft caress and give of the paper's edges, the comfort, like an old shawl, of an oft-read story.” — 5 people liked it

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