Great Ambitions falls into the tradition of the literary biography. Because she cannot address all the aspects of Dickens's early years and keep her book at a manageable length, Kyle carefully selects those details that shed the most t on his life, career, and literature.

His job in the blacking factory, his father's confinement in Marshalsea Prison, his interest in acting and the stage, his court reporting career, and his journeys through the London streets all shape Dickens as a man and a writer.

Kyle's selectivity results in an interesting and comprehensive study of Charles Dickens's background.

Kyle creates a suspenseful narrative that keeps the reader interested in what will happen next. Charles hates his father's confinement in debtor's prison, and the third chapter ends when he meets and escorts a stranger who is going to Marshalsea to pay for the release of a mysterious prisoner...