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Published Feb 2009
784 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
On June 9, 1865, while traveling by train to London with his secret mistress, 53-year-old Charles Dickens--at the height of his powers and popularity, the most famous and successful novelist in the world and perhaps in the history of the world--hurtled into a disaster that changed his life forever.
Did Dickens begin living a dark double life after the accident? Were his nightly forays into the worst slums of London and his deepening obsession with corpses, crypts, murder, opium dens, the use of lime pits to dissolve bodies, and a hidden subterranean London mere research . . . or something more terrifying?
Just as he did in The Terror, Dan Simmons draws impeccably from history to create a gloriously engaging and terrifying narrative. Based on the historical details of Charles Dickens's life and narrated by Wilkie Collins (Dickens's friend, frequent collaborator, and Salieri-style secret rival), Drood explores the still-unsolved mysteries of the famous author's last years and may provide the key to Dickens's final, unfinished work: The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Chilling, haunting, and utterly original, Drood is Dan Simmons at his powerful best.
"Starred Review. Chilling, haunting, and utterly original, Drood is Dan Simmons at his powerful best." - Publishers Weekly.
"A lively entertainment, reminiscent of Nicholas Meyer's Seven-Percent Solution - and a worthy rejoinder to Dickens's swan song." - Kirkus Reviews.
"Starred Review. This rip-roaring adventure is a true page-turner. Enthusiastically recommended for all popular collections." - Library Journal.
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Dan Simmons was born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1948, and grew up in various cities and small towns in the Midwest. Since his first published short story won the Rod Serling Memorial Award in the 1982 Twilight Zone Magazine Short Fiction contest, Dan Simmons has won some of the top awards in science fiction, horror, fantasy, and thriller genres, as well as honors for his mainstream fiction. He lives along the Front Range of Colorado.
Dan Simmons won the World Fantasy Award for his novel Song of Kali. Notable books include the Hyperion series (four science fiction novels) (Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion,and The Rise of Endymion) and more recently Illium and Olympos
In 1995, Dan's alma mater, Wabash College, awarded him an honorary doctorate for his contributions in education ...
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