Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. List of illustrations in the text ix
4. List of plates xi
5. Preface xiv
6. Acknowledgements xv
7. Note on monetary values xvii
8. 1. Early years: from Portsmouth to Chatham, 1812–1822 1
9. 2. Early years: London, 1822–1827 14
10. 3. ‘The Copperfield days’, 1828–1835 31
11. 4. Break-through year, 1836 59
12. 5. Editing Bentley’s Magazine, 1836–1837 85
13. 6. Periodicals into novels, 1837–1839 110
14. 7. The Master Humphrey experiment, 1840–1841 140
15. 8. America brought to book, 1842 175
16. 9. ‘The turning-point of his career’: England, Italy, England, 1842–1845 207
17. 10. An interlude: ‘daily nooses’ and the noose itself, 1846 241
18. 11. Dombey and other dealings, 1846–1848 254
19. 12. From Dombey to Copperfield, 1848–1849 275
20. 13. Interweaving and conducting: writing David Copperfield and beginning Household Words, 1849–1850 289
21. 14. The year of the Guild, 1850–1851 319
22. 15. Writing Bleak House, 1852–1853 340
23. 16. Writing ‘For These Times’, 1853–1854 363
24. 17. Writing Little Dorrit – among other things, 1855–1857 387
25. 18. Drama and dénouement: performing The Frozen Deep and finishing Little Dorrit, 1857 416
26. 19. Writing off a marriage, 1857–1858 432
27. 20. Stories into scripts: the public readings, 1858 461
28. 21. Serials, series and stories: writing for All the Year Round, 1859–1861 469
29. 22. Christmas numbers, public readings, and ‘uncommercial’ travels, 1861–1863 498
30. 23. Back to the ‘big brushes’: writing Our Mutual Friend, 1864–1865 521
31. 24. Last Christmas numbers, 1865–1867 545
32. 25. Writing, and reading, for America, 1867–1868 561
33. 26. Disappearances and deaths, 1868–1870 585
34. 27. Charles Dickens’s explanations 615
35. Abbreviations and select bibliography 624
36. Notes 627
37. Index 671