Oh dear, everybody seems to be finding this disappointing. I also enjoyed the Ackroyd biography, and I did wonder if there was anything left to say. I've got tickets for a talk by Claire Tomalin at the V&A but I'm not sure I want to buy the book.
I actually bought this (cheap from The Book People) and was really looking forward to it. I deliberately didn't read any reviews before writing mine and have just half an hour ago read a crucifying one in Private Eye. I expect the talk will be interesting.
"Then and now she argues convincingly from her own research and that of other writers that at some point Nelly did agree to become Dickens’ mistress and had a son who died very young."
Is this the woman who lived in Slough High Street, or am i completely confused?
Dickens did have a house for Nelly in Slough, yes. He seems to have thought he wouldn't be recognised there. I'd say there was no proof at all of most of the story but Dickens' own children confirmed it and that's what convinces me.
When I was living there, it was a flat over a shop - the story at that time was that she had lived there with a younger woman, and, as you say, it was disputed whether she was his mistress, or whether he only paid the rent.He certainly owned a cottage in Church Street, perhaps in addition to renting the High Street flat - and his publisher lived in Slough. There was also a story of their being involved in a train crash, and he pretended not to know her
The Staplehurst train crash is pretty well documented. Dickens was travelling back from France with Nelly and her mother. She was whisked away and Dickens stayed to help the injured.
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I expect the talk will be interesting.
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Is this the woman who lived in Slough High Street, or am i completely confused?
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I'd say there was no proof at all of most of the story but Dickens' own children confirmed it and that's what convinces me.
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There was also a story of their being involved in a train crash, and he pretended not to know her
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