The untold story of Charles Dickens’ final tour of America. Third-year Harvard student William Price takes an absence from his studies when an opportunity arises to accompany Charles Dickens on his American tour as his personal assistant. Leaving the love of his life, Rebecca, behind in Cambridge and traveling along the East Coast with Dickens and his lively crew, Price discovers the incomparable joys, follies, temptations, and opportunities of life on the road. 

As Price gets to know Dickens in a series of settings, from somber one-on-one chats to his flamboyant performances and raucous after-parties, they develop a complicated friendship, teeming with mutual care, respect, jealousy, and secrets. Each city they travel to brings new adventures and mishaps as Price encounters a multitude of crazed fans, a murderous doctor, a life-threatening flood, and a snowbound mountain showdown. 

Written with warmth and humor as a series of journal entries, Charles Dickens’ American Road Show follows the tour along the East Coast from DC to Maine as an unexpected and hypnotic tale of danger, intrigue, and love unfolds along the way. Grounded in detailed historical research, this novel is a compelling account of the ways in which literature connects us to both the past and each other, and reminds us of the humanity of our heroes.