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| Dickens study at Doughty Street, London |
This week I finished reading
Charles Dickens - A Life by Claire Tomalin. Having recently been to the Dickens house/museum in London I was keen to read the book I bought a couple of years ago. I have to say her subject was very extensively researched by Tomalin. She has done a wonderful job. I really enjoyed finding out more about Dickens the man, his early life growing up with a father who always lived beyond his means and who Dickens supported throughout his life. He was an incredible man and his output of writing along with his other interests was phenomenal. It was quite exhausting reading about it all. While he certainly did much to help the poor and bring their plight to light he didn't have that caring attitude with his own family, cutting off his wife in later years and hardly speaking to her. He said some cruel things but poor Catherine never fought back. Dickens didn't really know what to do with all his children. The boys he sent off to boarding school in Boulogne sometimes not even returning for the Christmas holidays. He then found jobs for them in Australia and India. They never saw him. His constant companion was Georgina Hogarth, Catherine's sister. She stayed with him even after the marriage split. Before that he had rather an odd relationship with another sister Mary, wishing to to laid in the grave next to her when he died! Later after parting from Catherine he had a secret affair with a former actress Nelly and there were rumours of a child born in France who died young. This was a very complex man but a fascinating one. He used his knowledge of his early life and his walks through London streets and undesirable places to fuse his novels with real life people whilst poking fun at the well-to-do. A really interesting book that goes to the heart of the writer and the man. Very comprehensive and very enjoyable to read.
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