Annie Elliot crafts an intimate glance into the life and marriage of one of the most celebrated English writers of the 19th century, Charles Dickens. Within Mr & Mrs Charles Dickens: Her Story: “So The World May Know He Loved Me Once.”, Elliot masterfully explores this marriage through the eyes of Catherine Dickens, née Hogarth. Overlooked by history, Catherine Dickens acted as a faithful and loving wife to the fitful and wilful Charles Dickens, bearing him ten children and tirelessly caring after him. The crux of the novel, however, lies in the stoic perseverance of Catherine in the face of Charles’ suspected infidelities and his abhorrent treatment of her in the later years of their marriage.
A structural choice made by the author was to shift between two perspectives of Catherine Dickens, her younger self, progressing through the many peaks and valleys of her marriage; and her elder self in the wake of Charles’ death, reminiscing about their turbulent 32 years of marriage. I found this technique thoroughly compelling as it allowed for a greater perspective into how Catherine’s grief, jealously, and complicated estimation of Charles matured following the twelve years of their separation.
One of the strengths of this novel is the depiction of the oscillating relationship between Charles and Catherine. Thematically, the work centres on the tribulation that faces a faithful and dutiful wife who is saddled with a husband that disregards and dishonours her on multiple instances. Catherine’s tragedy is compounded further by the loss of her 17-year-old sister Mary and her daughter, Dora, who died only eight months old. In spite of all this personal tragedy, Catherine nonetheless does not succumb but instead combats this overwhelming tragedy by clutching to glimmers of happiness found in both her children and the memories of her once-loving relationship with Charles.
Additionally, Elliot offers a robust cast of characters besides the titular protagonists. Catherine’s venomous mother-in-law, her severe and humourless sister, her brood of mischievous and loving children, her garrulous and spiteful love rival Maria Beadnell, and the eccentric Hans Christian Andersen, to name a few, all serve to inundate the novel with an incessant richness that perseveres page after page.
Ultimately, Mr & Mrs Charles Dickens captivated me throughout with the tragic tale of a woman, passed over by history, who suffered and served one of the most influential English writers of all time.
Dominic Mullens is an Editorial Intern at Aspects of History.
