Shortlisted for Book of the Month
AMAZON UK £2.34 £9.99
AMAZON US $3.09 $9.99
AMAZON CA $12.66
Family Drama / Biographical Fiction
19th century
London
Catherine Dickens, wife of the great
Charles Dickens and mother of his ten children, suddenly finds herself
abandoned by her husband after twenty-one years of marriage. He provides her
with a house and even a financial settlement on condition that she sign a draconian
agreement that separates her from her minor children and forbids her from
speaking publicly about the matter. (Or the 18 year-old actress he has taken up
with.) Of course, Mr. Dickens speaks publicly and often about his wife as well
as issuing press releases vilifying her as an unfit mother and even suggesting she
had a mental problem.
The problem for Ms. Datta was to create
a character in the respected author and champion of under-privileged women, who
would do such a terrible thing to an undeserving wife; and also to create a
character for Catherine that would show why she didn’t fight, why she passively
signed an agreement that left her bereft of her children and painted her as the
one at fault in the failed relationship. The author succeeds brilliantly.
We see Catherine go through a range of
emotions, in turn miserable and hopeful, angry and accepting, pitiful and
passive. But we never see her step outside the role of a women who has been so
dominated by a controlling man that she has little will of her own. We may not
admire her but we never despise her. We want to cry with her for the repeated
blows and give a great cheer when she finds a little joy.
Ms. Datta digs deeper into the pathos of
Catherine’s situation to discover that when she is with old friends she is
uncomfortable. She worries they wonder how she has adapted, if she knows about
the actress, and what kind of mother she really was. But she is also
uncomfortable with prospective new friends who don’t know who she is because
she has nothing to talk about with them, no husband, no children, no household
concerns. It is another, cruel layer of aloneness.
It is always fascinating for authors to
read about great figures of literature, but I believe anyone who reads this
book will never see Charles Dickens in the same light again.
This is a sad book, but well worth
reading. I heartily recommend it.
© Susan Appleyard
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