Mr. Dickens Hits Town

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Miss Dorothy is visiting her friend, Henriette, when Lieutenant Hugh
Lincoln brings the unbelievable news. Charles Dickens is coming to visit
Montreal! The young ladies pretend not to be impressed, but the young
military officer is beside himself with excitement. He is a member of
the Garrison Amateurs, Montreal’s most accomplished nonprofessional
acting troupe. What could be more exhilarating than a chance to perform
in front of the world’s most famous author? Imagine Lieutenant
Hugh’s excitement when Dickens not only agrees to attend a performance
but even offers to direct and star in it himself? But Lieutenant Lincoln
and the Garrison Amateurs soon learn that working beside the great Mr.
Dickens is not quite what they expected. The upheaval caused in Quebec
by the Patriot Rebellion of 1837 soon pales in comparison to Mr.
Dickens’s 1842 Montreal stage debut.

This delightfully entertaining story is based on the historical fact
that Charles Dickens and his wife did pass through Montreal in 1842 and
did take part in an amateur theatrical production staged by the local
military garrison. Jan Mark’s story brilliantly captures the tone of a
Victorian drawing-room comedy. The style of Regolo Ricci’s extremely
droll, full-color illustrations appears to be inspired by some of the
great comic illustrators of the 19th century. Highly recommended.