"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
"Exhaustively scholarly and very readable… Slater is… an astute and objective commentator…. This is a gripping account of a literary scandal." —The Lady
~The Lady
"[An] elegant little history of how the truth came out, drop by scandalous drop."—John Bowen, Times Literary Supplement
~John Bowen, The Times Literary Supplement
“[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