A sequel to Dickens, this is a resume of all the scholarly research and imaginative reinterpretation which were the hallmarks of the previous book. It is a long essay on the life and work of Dickens in which Ackroyd demonstrates his argument for connecting the life and work, and, in the process, throws light upon both. In addition he has written 20 introductions to the whole range of Dickens' published work, from novels to journalism, in which he analyzes the writings themselves while at the same time providing an account of the novelist's career. Chatterton and First Light and his biography of T.S. Eliot was awarded the Whitbread PRize for the best biography of 1984.