Review 'The Sparkler' by Alan Humm
Very Poetic and Atmospheric historical novel - Magnificent Alan Humm edits the arts journal 'One Hand Clapping' and has had two poetry collections published. 'The Sparkler' is his first novel, published by Vine Leaves Press. This is certainly quality writing. Alan Humm uses fiction as a means of exploring what he considers to be 'gaps' in historians' knowledge of Dickens's life: A surprising challenge at first as Dickens has had so many biographers, and some potential readers may feel that the novel veers towards the 'unknowable' Dickens.At any rate, Mr Humm has cited the two books that have inspired him in creating 'The Sparkler' as being 'Becoming Dickens-The Invention of a Novelist' by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst and 'The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi, Laughter, Madness and 'The Story of Britain's Greatest Comedian' by Andrew Mconell Stott. And there is a clue in the titl