A Dark Twist on Dickens

Drood by Dan Simmons is a dark twist on the last several years of Charles Dickens’ life, as narrated by his friend and fellow author Wilkie Collins (writer of The Woman in White). The story begins with a true event from Dickens’ life, a railway accident in which his was the only first class car spared. According to Collins’ narration, Dickens told only him about the mysterious figure named Drood whom he saw at the site of the accident, either trying to save the injured or killing them. Not long after the accident, Dickens goes in search of Drood in London, using the man’s story and the people whom he meets in what is to be his last, half-finished novel.

Simmons’ Drood is an impressive example of unreliable narration. Collins is an addict who both smokes opium and drinks it in the form of laudanum, and shows signs that he may be suffering from delusions. On the other hand, much of his information comes from Dickens, who has spent his life inventing exactly these sorts of stories. Does Drood exist at all? Or has Dickens gone insane? Or Collins? The result is a book worthy of Dickens or Collins themselves, with a dash of Amadeus thrown in for good measure.

-- Kristen, Main Library