Chatterton
Written by Peter Ackroyd
- Shortlisted
- The Booker Prize 1987
- Published by Hamish Hamilton
Buy the book
Detective novel meets entertaining comedy in Peter Ackroyd’s century-hopping investigation into the mysterious death of Thomas Chatteron
What is the mystery of Thomas Chatterton, the enigmatic 18th-century poet-forger and genius, whose life ended under shadowy circumstances? A young poet and an elderly female novelist try to decode the clues found within an ancient manuscript, only to discover that their investigation is disclosing other hidden secrets…
Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd is unusual in being equally feted as a novelist and biographer. His facility in both was not, he says, a cause for celebration: in the literary world, ‘I was treated with derision and contempt’
More about Peter Ackroyd