Dickens's England by Tony Lynch

This book caught my eye because it seemed out of place in the travel guide section. But I am planning to go to the Charles Dickens museum, so I decided to read it. And you know what? This is a really delightful guidebook.

Organised alphabetically, this book covers the two lives of Dickens - the actual England where he lived, worked, and traveled, and the fictional England that his characters inhabited. There is a chronology in front, and then the book delves into the various locations. For the actual England, the book talks about the events that took place when Dickens visited or lived in that location. For fictional locations, the book talks about scenes that take place (with quotations) and locations that inspired certain buildings.

For some reason, I expected this place to focus on London, so I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of non-London places that were covered. There were also a lot of 'tourist spots' like Westminster Abbey, Bath, and Stratford-upon-Avon in the book, which gave me even more to look forward to.

Also, I realised that Dickens was a very well-traveled guy, at least when it came to England.

I think this would be a good "guidebook" to read before or during a trip to England. Charles Dickens is a hugely influential English writer and if you're interested in literature, you might find your trip enriched by all these additional pieces of information.