Product Description

Alfred Gibson's funeral has taken place at Westminister Abbey, and his wife of twenty years, Dorothea, has not been invited. The Great Man favours his children and a clandestine mistress over his estranged wife. Dorothea revisits their early courtship before the birth of too many children snapped her vitality, and discovers the devious nature and hypnotic power of this celebrity author. Now she needs to face her grown up children, and worse, her nemesis of ten years, the charming Miss Ricketts. This is a re-telling of the lives of Charles and Catherine Dickens.


Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2008

LONGLISTED FOR THE ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION 2009

LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2009


''Arnold's knowledge of Dickens is impeccable, and she uses fiction to give Mrs D what she never had - a chance to interview her husband''s mistress, and reclaim her beloved children. Beautifully written, entirely satisfying'' Times

''Arnold's portrayal of Gibson/Dickens is spot on charismatic, theatrical, depressive; preoccupied with death and with childhood; endlessly courting celebrity and reputation'' Guardian

''A fine work of imagination and compassion that offers up other ways for us to understand a popular genius and those who loved him'' Telegraph

''Fabulously indulgent Victoriana . . . a lovely, rich evocation of the period'' Observer

''A fascinating portrait of a Victorian woman in the near-impossible position of maintaining a sense of self while married to a famous, difficult and wildly charismatic genius'' Metro

''With his manic energy and flamboyant waistcoats, Gibson is a Dickensian character and no wonder, for Arnold''s inspiration for her wholly absorbing novel lies in the complex married life of Charles Dickens and his wife, Catherine'' Daily Mail

''With Gaynor Arnold's Girl in a Blue Dress the Birmingham indie house Tindal Street Press confirms its magic touch'' Boyd Tonkin, Independent

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16252 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Erica Wagner, Times
`Gaynor Arnold's deep understanding of human relationships marks out this story of a strong woman in an age when women weren't perceived as such'

Paul Bailey
`Dorothea, the narrator and heroine of Gaynor Arnold's ambitious first novel, proves herself to be more than the doting Victorian wife of a restless genius who resembles Dickens, despite being called Alfred Gibson. Hers is the story of a kind and good woman who is not content to be remembered as a mere footnote when the official Life of the great man comes to be written'

About the Author
Gaynor Arnold was born and brought up in Cardiff. She read English at St. Hilda's College, Oxford, where she acted in many plays, including at the Edinburgh Festival and in the USA.

She has two grown up children and works for Birmingham's Adoption and Fostering Service.

Customer Reviews

Excellent, please let there be more!
I really enjoyed this book, a work of fiction based on the life of Charles & Catherine Dickens (Alfred & Dorothea Gibson). It's full of fascinating Victorian elements shown through Dorothea's recollections of her life with Alfred along with scenes from her life as they occur. I also picked up references to Charles Dickens' books, through the way some characters speak (one really reminded me of Joe Gargery), and especially the visit by Alfred at the end of the book, very "A Christmas Carol". Having said this i've only read two Dickens books so it's not a prerequisite to reading this novel, it's highly enjoyable without this knowledge.

Encore
Historical fictional biography isn't everyone's cup of tea. Those who don't like it will not enjoy Girl in a Blue Dress, which is a slightly disguised fictional biography of Catherine Dickens, wife of Charles Dickens.

Gaynor Arnold takes up where, so to speak, Charles Dickens left off. Alfred Gibson (Dickens) has just been buried and his wife Dorothea (Catherine Dickens) is briefed on the funeral by her daughter Kitty. It soon becomes clear that Dorothea did not live with her husband, and that there was scandal and wrongdoing in the Gibson household.

In a pageant of Victoriana - with servants and morals and etiquette and horses - Dorothea reflects on her ill-starred marriage to Gibson, moving from courtship and early love, through the rigours of childbirth, through to her long and lonely estrangement. And the story of Gibson, as seen through others' eyes, is of a man who is revered, both by himself and by others. He can do no wrong; he can treat women with high-handed arrogance, cruelty even, and the women will look within themselves for the fault.

Dorothea, in particular, cannot bear to see Gibson's cruelty for what it is. She looks for evidence that Gibson once loved her, as though this would matter. Dorothea refuses to hear criticism from Kitty, and even appears in the final pages to rationalize Gibson's relationship with his mistress - for whom Dorothea had been passed over. And the children, too, look to blame anyone other than Gibson for the breakdown of their household. They simply won't acknowledge the central role played by Gibson in controlling lives and manipulating information. The one exception, perhaps, was Kitty who did venture some negative opinion - but was perhaps easily dismissed as having her own axe to grind.

Gibson was a wonderfully well drawn character - his natural arrogance spurred on by public acclaim. His passion for work and fear of debt are well known, but manifest themselves in this novel in the form of absolute control freakery - but delivered with a false smile. He is a master of self-justification, and every slight and misdemeanour comes with a carefully thought through rationalization. Quite simply, Gibson didn't permit himself to make mistakes. Having said that, even Gibson could not halt the ravishes of time, and appeared to trade in his female companionship for slightly newer models. This seemed to be the one area where Gibson admits to making a mistake - that of marrying Dorothea - even though the irony of the situation is that his one admission of a mistake is not really a mistake to be admitted. Rather, it is just a flimsy excuse for his shabbiness.

The beauty of the novel is in some of the detail - and an audience with Queen Victoria herself is a clear highlight. The frustration of the Queen, caught between trying to engage in real conversation and pompously maintaining her rank. And the visit from Eddie, a foppish - even camp - son is pure vaudeville. Then the hapless Augustus and his money worries...

Girl in a Blue Dress is a simple novel, very well told, and with a surprising hidden complexity in the relationships, emotions and motives at play - all hinging on the greatness of the self proclaimed One and Only (Gibson/Dickens, not Chesney Hawkes) - and people's desire for greatness by association, whatever the cost. For myself - a fan of both Dickens and historical biography - it was spellbinding, compelling and impossible to set down. The pages flew by in a voracious hunger for more gossip and salacious details.

Encore!

Wonderful; couldn't put it down
The thinly-disguised story of Catherine Dickens, wife of the famous author, is at the heart of this unpretentious, unassuming story.

The celebrated author Alfred Gibson has died, leaving England in mourning. His estranged wife, Dorothy (or "Dodo") sits at home as the funeral and reading of the will take place. As she sits, she looks back on her twenty-year-plus marriage to "the One and Only," and "The Great Original." An invitation to visit Queen Victoria, as well to her sister Sissy and the actress Wilhelmina Rickets, leads to another series of reflections on her marriage.

It's a quiet novel, simple yet complicated in many ways. There's not much action, certainly not in the present day, but there's a certain gentleness of language that makes this book compellingly readable. Dodo, despite her shy, retiring ways, is a likeable heroine, strong in the ways a "typical" Victorian woman wasn't supposed to be. In addition, I enjoyed the way the characters interacted with one another: Dodo's daughter Kitty, the son-in-law who is obsessed with money; but most of all, Alfred Gibson himself: control freak, obsessed with keeping poverty at bay (even when he was in his most successful period), and eagerness to change the truth when it suits him. I get the feeling that Gibson isn't supposed to be likeable, but he's charismatic enough that the people around him tend to overlook his flaws. The only one who realizes who Gibson really was is, ironically, Dodo.

To the modern reader, the Victorian era is a strange place--all those customs regarding mourning, for example, are simply mind-boggling. Dorothy's world is one that's strictly defined by traditions and conventions, and Dodo's story is that of a woman who isn't afraid to bend the rules a bit. In all, an excellent novel, worthy of having been longlisted for the Booker Prize.