Poet, forger, and genius, Thomas Chatterton died in 1770, aged 18. His death was thought to be suicide: But what really happened?
A century before, as 19th-century artist Henry Wallis paints his celebrated portrait of Chatterton lying dead in an attic room, he, too, becomes fascinated by the mystery. Then Chatterton himself steps forward, with his own story....
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"I loved this book! It was a bit hard to get into initially because of the author's pacing and prose. However, the story was beautifully written, clever and at turns dark but thought provoking. Peter Ackroyd knows how to write a good book that's hard to put down." — Bonnie (5 out of 5 stars)
"I loved this book! It was a bit hard to get into initially because of the author's pacing and prose. However, the story was beautifully written, clever and at turns dark but thought provoking. Peter Ackroyd knows how to write a good book that's hard to put down."
" Re-reading - my choice for this month's village book club "
" Ackroyd is able to pull off cleverness without pedantry, and he moves away from the Caveresque sparseness of language that's often encouraged in fiction workshops. "
" Great - fantastic read. "
" A diverting romp through the somewhat enigmatic tale of Thomas Chatterton, Ackroyd's novel works best when sketching characters and their interactions. Lots of fun. "
" Well, I liked it! It is an interesting detective story with lots of allusions and intertextual meanings. I don't even know whether I will re-read it once or not, but it gripped my attention. "
" I liked this more than I thought I would. The intermingling of two timelines and overly literary nature of the book would usually put me off (I haven't really enjoyed any of the previous Peter Ackroyd books I've read) but something about it kept me enthralled. "
" Funny--after "Hawksmoor" I've never found anything else by Ackroyd I liked as much. He's an astonishing master of language, but he knows that all too well and often lets it overtake his storytelling. Nothing memorable about this book. "
" Really complex and cool. "
" great old high school book "
" Well-written, although I found the characters a bit hard to believe at times. A quirkier version of Possession, without the intensity. "
Peter Ackroyd has written acclaimed biographies of T. S. Eliot, Dickens, Blake, and Sir Thomas More, as well as several successful novels. He has won the Whitbread Book Award for Biography, the Royal Society of Literature’s W. H. Heinemann Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, and the South Bank Show Award for Literature.
James Wilby starred as Senator James Dorr in the Masterpiece Theatre production of Island at War. In film, he can be seen in Gosford Park, Howards End, and De-Lovely.
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