Gaynor Arnold's novel begins with the funeral of a famous writer named Alfred Gibson, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Dickens. The story follows Dorothea, Gibson's widow, as she receives an invitation for an audience with Queen Victoria and begins to examine what her marriage to the famous author "Gibson" was really like. Although this is a work of fiction, Arnold tailors her narrative so closely to the actual facts of the unhappy history of Dickens and his wife Catherine that the book serves as a good starting point for readers interested in learning about Dickens' actual experience of matrimonial woe.
