"A sexy story resting on a bed of comprehensive scholarship and pursued with Sherlock-ian imagination."-Kirkus (starred review) Kirkus "Slater's work is a fascinating investigation into the nature of scandal itself as much as it is a look at the particular episode."-Daily Beast The Daily Beast "Wise, witty and highly entertaining."-Simon Callow, The Guardian
Simon Callow The Guardian "Strangely riveting, even haunting ... a scholarly detective story."-The Boston Globe The Boston Globe "Impeccably sourced and dashingly narrated ... Slater sinks his teeth into the dirty subject of reputation making-and breaking-with a relish that almost made me forget (I mean this as a compliment) that author's status as an eminent academic."-Miranda Seymour, Sunday Telegraph
Miranda Seymour Sunday Telegraph "[Slater] examines decades of rumor and journalism to provide a history of the scandal as it has develpped since the author's death."-New Yorker Page-Turner blog New Yorker Page-Turner blog "A fascinating picture of not only Charles Dickens, but of the people who were (and still are) fascinated by him."-PopMatters PopMatters "[Slater] happily tracks down and assesses the tiny accumulating pips and squeaks of the 'scandal.'"-San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Chronicle "You don't need to know [Dickens's] fiction to enjoy Slater's zesty account of the life."-The New Republic The New Republic "An invaluable work for Dickens scholars, and an enjoyable read for anyone."-Choice Choice "Michael Slater revisits the layers of deception, gossip, commercial speculation, and academic work that grew around Dickens's extramarital relationship with Ellen Ternan in order to track the unfolding of "the great Dickens scandal" from Dickens's own lifetime to ours."-Sambudha Sen, Victorian Studies
Sambudha Sen Victorian Studies