“The Last Dickens,” by Matthew Pearl, will be featured at the adult book discussion on Tuesday, January, 21, 7:00 p.m., at the Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County, 201 N Mulberry Street, Mt Vernon.
In his latest novel Pearl reopens one of literary history’s greatest mysteries in a tale filled with the dazzling twists and turns, the unerring period details, and the meticulous research that thrilled readers of bestsellers “The Dante Club” and “The Poe Shadow.”
In 1870 Boston, news of Charles Dickens’s untimely death reaches the office of his struggling American publisher, Fields & Osgood. Partner James Osgood sends his trusted clerk Daniel Sand to await Dickens’s unfinished novel–”The Mystery of Edwin Drood.”
But when Daniel’s body is discovered by the docks and the manuscript is nowhere to be found, Osgood must embark on a transatlantic quest to unearth the novel that will save his venerable business and reveal Daniel’s killer.
Danger and intrigue abound on the journey. Osgood has chosen Rebecca Sand, Daniel’s older sister, to help clear her brother’s name and achieve their singular mission. As they attempt to uncover Dickens’s final mystery, Osgood and Rebecca find themselves racing the clock through a dangerous web of literary lions and drug dealers, sadistic thugs and blue bloods, and competing members of the inner circle. They soon realize that understanding Dickens’s lost ending is a matter of life and death.
The program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. Copies of the book are available at the library.
For more information call the main library at 740-392-2665 (BOOK) or visit www.knox.net.
