Charles Dickens biography written by former Exeter PHD student

Keith graduated in 2009 with a doctorate from the School of English. Since leaving Exeter he has gone on to publish his debut book: Charles Dickens: Faith, Angels and the Poor. Commissioned by an Oxford publisher, Keith's book is available in bookshops and online throughout the UK and internationally.

Keith Hooper’s biography seeks to identify the nature of Dickens’s faith and how he expressed them through his writing. Telling the story of his life, the book details how the writer, journalist, performer and social reformer publicly and privately, sought to change individual and societal attitudes toward the poor and challenge the existing ideologies which prevented them from receiving the help they so desperately needed. The author, with reference to his best-known books, details how Dickens used a series of Angels to express his views. Also, his approach of exposing his readers to the harsh realities of poverty is discussed.