In "Dickens & Prince," Nick Hornby, with his unique, sideways perspective, suggests an apparently unlikely pairing. What do the iconic Victorian author Charles Dickens (1812-1870) and the prematurely lost idol of the international music scene, the Minnesota-born Prince (born Prince Rogers Nelson, 1958-2016), have in common?

When, in 2020, thirty-three years after its first release, Prince's legendary album Sign o' the Times is re-released in a special collector's box set, it includes an additional 63 unreleased songs, revealing an incredibly productive artist. Feeling awe, Hornby wonders if there is any comparable case of a significant creator who worked with relentless intensity and left such a rich body of work in a short period of time.

The answer he finds in the figure of Dickens, who died more than a hundred years before Prince began his musical career. "Dickens & Prince" is an original, alternative, parallel biographical approach to the lives of the two creators. Examining their social statuses, as well as their personal tragedies, and above all their inexhaustible talent, Hornby shows through many apt comparisons how these two remarkable personalities from different centuries "illuminated the world," ultimately leading to an inspired reflection on creativity, discipline, and the inexhaustible mental reserves required for great art.