Following Charles Dickens-s death, his friend and biographer, John Forster, discovers a -lost- manuscript that provides a radically different view of the year the young author spent working in a blacking factory. But is the account fact or fiction?
In the 1820s the Dickens family arrive to start a new life in London . Charles (-Charley-) is just eleven and looking to continue his education. However, instead of being sent to school - and as his family fall deeply into debt - he is put to work in a boot-blacking factory at Hungerford Stairs.
With his father soon cast into the Marshalsea debtors prison, Charley-s eagerness to earn an extra shilling sees him drawn into a criminal network led by the dark figure of Mr Magnus. The combination of demeaning factory work with this new and dangerous criminal activity places a huge burden on Charley, at a time when his mother and siblings are increasingly dependent on him.
Life becomes even more complicated when Charley is
