#and therefore the removal of Martin Chuzzlewit as an option

[dickensdaily]

Choosing Our Next Novel

People of tumblr! I may also send out an email about this, but I just want to gauge initial thoughts for our next novel. The below is every work that would start in April or earlier. It’s probably too short notice to start Martin Chuzzlewit, but there are several other options.

Jan 2025 - July 2026 (1 year and a half) - Martin Chuzzlewit Mar 2025 - Sep 2026 (1 year and a half) - Nicholas Nickleby Mar 2025 - Sep 2026 (1 year and a half) - Bleak House Apr 2025 - Nov 2026 (1 year and a half) - The Pickwick Papers Apr 2025 - Feb 2026 (11 months) - The Old Curiosity Shop Apr 2025 - Aug 2025 (5 months) - Hard Times Apr 2025 - Nov 2025 (8 months) - A Tale of Two Cities Apr 2025 - Sep 2025 (6 months, but unfinished) - Edwin Drood

When I’ve run polls in the past, all the most successful options have been books that run for under a year. The only Dickens novels left that were serialised over the course of less than a year are the bolded ones above. Not including the unfinished The Mystery of Edwin Drood, there is a way to plan well in advance to minimise gaps and favour shorter-running works (so we read The Old Curiosity Shop Apr 2025 - Feb 2026, then A Tale of Two Cities Apr 2026 - Nov 2026, then Hard Times Apr 2027 - Aug 2027).

Does this appeal to people as an option? Or does such far-advanced planning seem overkill? And would it be better to keep some of the shorter ones for further down the line? Should we have another vote to allow for the possibility of a longer work winning this time? Help me make up my mind about this!

Thank you in advance for voting or letting me know your thoughts, and thank you to everyone who has joined in so far with Great Expectations and Barnaby Rudge!