About

Join author Emily Howes in conversation with Bath Preservation Trusts Senior Curator, Dr Amy Frost, to dicuss Emily's new book, Mrs Dickens.

About the Author

Emily Howes is the award-winning author of The Painter's Daughters. She has worked as a storyteller, theatre maker, performer, writer and director in stage, television and radio. In addition to writing fiction, Emily has a Masters in Existential Psychotherapy and works as a psychotherapist in private practice. She lives in London with her children.

About Mrs Dickens

London, 1836. Nineteen-year-old Kate Hogarth falls in love with the young journalist Charles Dickens. In the early days of their marriage, Charles is infatuated with his new bride and Kate delights in her new life, the balm to her husband's irrepressible spirit. But as he finds fame as a novelist and the family rise through the ranks of Victorian society, Kate becomes increasingly aware of his frustration that real people cannot be manipulated as easily as his characters. Meanwhile, in the East End slums, a young orphan named Anne Brown has lost everything, but is determined to make her way in the world. A chance encounter with the Dickens family transports her to the heart of the household, opening up a world of privilege, travel and remarkable company. As the years go by and the family expands, the cracks in the Dickens' marriage deepen. Kate seeks comfort and companionship in her trusted servant, but whilst Anne has come to care deeply for Mrs Dickens, her loyalties are tested to breaking point as Charles takes control of their future... Vibrant, witty and deeply moving, Mrs Dickens traces a long marriage in all its tenderness, grief, romance and fury. It illuminates the life of a complex, forgotten woman whose voice often went unheard but whose story deserves to be told

Talks are 45mins-1hr with additional time for questions and discussion. Bar serves wine and soft drinks

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