Girl in a Blue Dress: A Novel Inspired by the Life and Marriage of Charles Dickens

by: Gaynor Arnold

Published by: Crown Publishers

Reviewed by Sarah Nagle

Everyone in Victorian London is publicly mourning the passing of Alfred Gibson – the Great One, the One and Only, the most adored novelist England has known. Everyone, that is, except his long-forgotten first wife. For ten years Dorothea “Dodo” Gibson has been practically invisible, seldom leaving her modest apartment, mourning the loss of her children’s affection and reliving her youth as a sheltered young lady pursued by a larger-than-life young writer destined for greatness.

Now that Alfred is dead, however, Dodo is no longer content to continue letting herself be silenced and condemned as an unfit mother and a drag on her husband’s genius. She will no longer accept the role assigned to her by her estranged children and the sister who betrayed her by taking over Dodo’s housekeeping role in Alfred’s house. Nor will she accept her late husband’s public face as the only reality. In small but determined steps, she confronts those who have underestimated and wronged her, including the young actress who had become Gibson’s mistress. And by discovering the novel left unfinished at Alfred’s death, Dodo may have found a way to rewrite her role in his larger story.

The author, a British social worker, spent five years crafting this, her first novel. Her profound knowledge of the works of Charles Dickens is evident in the extended passages from Alfred’s “works” scattered throughout the book. She also paints a realistic portrait of a marriage where one partner is an acclaimed genius, with all of the compromises and stresses inherent in such a situation. Dodo is not portrayed as blameless in her role as wife and mother, but the author makes us understand, perhaps even sympathize with, Dodo’s limited options in Victorian society and her reasons for bowing to the power of her husband’s genius to the detriment of her happiness and social standing.

One of the 2008 Booker prize judges, in nominating Girl in a Blue Dress for the long list, said of author Gaynor Arnold that “here is somebody who can tell a story.” And tell it she does, providing a “good read” for lovers of well-written and fully realized historical fiction.

Armchair Interviews says: A true 5-star read.