Will’s Book Nook: Dickens Confidential Scribblings

Dickens Confidential, an audiobook compilation from BBC Radio, takes the “ what if” approach to Dickens’ backstory as a newspaper man. He incorporated some of the real life stories he came across as a journalist into his fiction. In this series, a fictionalized Dickens writes about various happenings in victorian London. In one episode he works on a story about child labor, as he does in his novels, and uncovers conflict and intrigue. It was disturbing to hear some of the conditions some of these children experienced, but it did make for a very dramatic storyline. Dickens himself grew up working in a workhouse, and he didn’t want other children experiencing the same things he went through. That’s just one example, but if you love historical fiction, especially featuring real people, I highly recommend you give this series a listen.