Girl in a Blue Dress: Amazon.co.uk: Gaynor Arnold: Books

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Product Description

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'

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7 Reviews

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4 star:		(1)
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4.3 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, please let there be more!, 3 Jun 2009

By	S. Bruch "Shelbycat" (Llanelli) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

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20 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Encore, 2 Sep 2008

By	Mister Hobgoblin (Edinburgh, Scotland) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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!

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6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful; couldn't put it down, 21 Sep 2008

By	K. Huff (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Are you reading fact or fiction
3 stars because I m in two minds about this book. I absolutely loved it as a work of fiction and Alfred and Dorethea charactors were so well written that the whole book just... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Dr Phibes

3.0 out of 5 stars What the Dickens?
Although Girl in a Blue Dress is based on the life of Charles Dickens, he is given a different name in the book. Read more

Published 5 months ago by P. Hawkins

5.0 out of 5 stars What a wonderful first novel
I really enjoyed every page of this first novel by Gaynor Arnold, this was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and it should have won! Read more

Published 10 months ago by Lincs Reader

5.0 out of 5 stars Convincing
Beautifully and seemingly effortlessly written. Gaynor's muse must have been permanently in residence. Dorothea's mid-Victorian voice is consistently convincing. Read more

Published 13 months ago by M. Richardson

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Girl in a Blue Dress (Paperback)

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