CARTOON MAZA: Mz Wallace

Mz Wallace

Claire Tomalin knows how to write a biography, that's a fact. If you haven't read Tomalin's Jane Austen and Samuel Pepys biography, I hope you will. Both were excellent. Tomalin's books are well-researched, thoughtful, and she's good at putting all the pieces together. But Charles Dickens A Life was a bit painful and I think it was because frequently Dickens was a monster (Samuel Pepys was no boy scout but I didn't have any expectations that he was). Dickens could also be more generous than anyone in his position. Meaning he wasn't landed gentry, had a wife and ten kids to feed, parents and siblings to assist, yet he was always looking to help or mentor others when he wasn't being vindictive or cruel.