The first volume of an intimate biography drawn from the letters of one of Ireland's most popular 19th-century novelists. Charles Lever rose from Dublin's streets to become the author of "Charles O'Malley" and "Harry Lorrequer," works that made him the companion of Thackeray and Dickens. This volume traces his earliest years: the mystery of his own birthdate that even he could not resolve, his childhood in a prosperous architect's household, and the Trinity College years where his practical jokes and literary ambitions first intertwined. The letters reveal not the polished novelist of later reputation but a young man hungry for experience, prone to mischief, and already crafting the vivid characters that would make him famous. For readers interested in Victorian literary history or the making of an Irish writer, this volume offers the closest thing to hearing Lever speak for himself.
