Growing old is a family affair Book

Pool's earlier book, "What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew" is an indispensable reference for anyone who has read or who looks forward to reading Edwardian or Victorian novels. I was expecting an equally instructive and interesting experience with this book.

But-- disappointed. The subtitle says it all, in that the subtitle is quite inaccurate. This book may touch on some of the "Rows and Romances of England's Great Victorian Novelists" but its proper subtitle ought to be "A Brief History of the Popularity and Publication of the Victorian Novel." Interesting in its way, but hardly the stuff of juicy revelations.

(And why did he omit the fact that Mary Ann Evans' new husband attempted suicide on their honeymoon? If YOU were going to write about Romances and Rows, you'd include that little event, wouldn't you?)

If you really want to investigate ROWS and ROMANCES among the Victorian literati, I highly recommend "Parallel Lives" by Phyllis Rose. THAT is juicy! (You may never see "A Christmas Carol" the same way after you've read its chapters on Charles Dickens.)