Product Description

This is the story of someone who – almost – wasn’t there; who vanished into thin air. Her names, dates, family and experiences very nearly disappeared from the record for good …’ Claire Tomalin’s multi-award-winning story of the life of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens is a remarkable work of biography and historical revisionism. It not only returns the neglected actress to her rightful place in history, but provides a compelling and truthful portrait of the great Victorian novelist. ‘A biography of high scholarship and compelling detective work’ Melvyn Bragg, Independent.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10013 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

About the Author
Claire Tomalin was born in London in 1933. She has worked in publishing and journalism all her life, becoming literary editor first of the New Statesman and then of the Sunday Times, which she left in 1986. She is the author of, among other books: The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft; Shelley and His World Katherine Mansfield: A Secret Life; The Invisible Woman and the extraordinarily successful biography of Samuel Pepys. Other books written for Penguin are: Jane Austen: A Life and a collection of memoirs entitled Several Strangers.

Customer Reviews

The secret life of Dickens
Claire Tomalin's biographies often reveal (or rescue) the life of a woman who lived on the margins of society. Her ability to rediscover these lives is amazing. Ellen Ternan is one such woman. She was a member of a family of actors in Victorian England, who had a long, secret relationship with the most popular novellist of the day, Charles Dickens. Tomalin describes the world of the theatre (which was not considered respectable), the limited choices for Ellen and her sisters, and the impossible position Ellen was in as Dickens' mistress. Ellen was invisible to respectable society, and to posterity, because Dickens couldn't marry her. Dickens' dreadful behaviour to his wife, Catherine, is also detailed here This is a fascinating story for anyone interested in Victorian society and the ambiguous position of women living on the margins.

Not so great expectations
I read this book shortly after finishing Ackroyd's 'Dickens' (1990 version). Tomalin's findings give a extra, sharper slant on that biography. Particularly the depiction of Dickens' death.

The accumulation of research and detective work go a long way to casting light on the elusive relationship between Nelly Ternan and the most famous English novelist of the 19th century.

It is eventually a sad - but all too human - story. And it did make me reassess Dickens' heroines and his approach to women in general. I agree with the author that Estella (from 'Great Expectations') is his most alluring female character.

Claire Tomalin has written a clear sighted, carefully outlined and moving/rather troubling history here. It certainly deserves all the critical plaudits it has recieved. I now look forward to reading her book on Thomas Hardy.

The Hidden Life of Victorian England's most iconic author
I came to this after ploughing through Peter Ackroyd's biography of Dickens, intrigued by the shadowy figure of Nelly Ternan and her possible inolvement in Dickens' appalling behaviour concerning the break-up of his marriage. Tomalin has done an impressive job teasing out a story that was never intended to be revealed, and probably never will be in its entirity. Though she refuses to be drawn into speculation, she builds a convincing case for the probability that Dickens did pursue a serious, long-term affair with Nelly, that they may well have had at least one child and, perhaps most controversial of all, that his friends and his family closed ranks to conceal the fact that he was with her on the day he died.

But the book isn't just about Dickens. It takes you deep into the the alluring yet harsh world inhabited by "theatricals", despised and feared by respectable society, and whatever prejudices you begin the book with are likely to be challenged before you reach the final page. Tomalin is to be congratulated for bringing to life a woman who clearly brought Dickens comfort and joy as well as guilt and anguish and showed a remarkable dignity, independence and capacity for self-reinvention.