This year marks the 210th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens, the most famous English author not named Shakespeare. It is impossible to say how many biographies of the man have been published, but there have already been two full-scale works since 2009 and at least a couple of more modest—or at least different—ambition. Among them is Robert Douglas-Fairhurst’s ingenious “Becoming Dickens: The Invention of a Novelist.” The author looks at the paths Dickens entered in his early life, but either escaped or forsook on his way to becoming the writer we know. He then goes on to show how the many jobs and people with whom Dickens was involved became incorporated in his fiction. Now, a decade later, Mr. Douglas-Fairhurst gives us “The Turning Point: 1851—A Year That Changed Charles Dickens and the World,” another partial biography, again with a specific goal.
