"Because of sad factors like child mortality (two of his seven siblings died in infancy), there was a different relationship with death and loss in those days," Kubicki explains.
"Dickens knew stories about the spirits were popular, and he enjoyed writing and performing them because of the power they gave him over an audience. There's a letter he wrote to his wife, about a reading he gave of his 1844 work The Chimes, where he talks about how much he enjoyed that feeling.
