Chambers Dictionary of Literary Characters gives up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of the characters of the classics to the main figures in popular contemporary literature.

Over 6,500 entries provide a guide to the wealth of characters created by writers in English – from the Wife of Bath to Bertie Wooster, and Tom Sawyer to Harry Potter. Written by experts, the dictionary also includes concise biographies of authors and a list of literary awards.

These are just some of the influential authors and playwrights represented in the dictionary: Edward Albee, Jane Austen, J M Coetzee, Jim Crace, Charles Dickens, William Faulkner, Jonathan Franzen, Mark Haddon, Joseph Heller, A L Kennedy, Toni Morrison, D B C Pierre, Annie Proulx, Philip Pullman, William Shakespeare, Zadie Smith, Tom Stoppard, Donna Tartt, John Updike, Evelyn Waugh and Irvine Welsh.

The dictionary also include 8 essays on key topics in literature: The Characters of Charles Dickens, The Detective in Fiction, The Ghost in Fiction, Literary Sidekicks, Diarists in Literature, The Angry Young Man, The Characters of William Shakespeare and Literary Drinkers.