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

This dazzling debut novel brings the spirit of Catherine Dickens—the cast-off wife of Charles Dickens—to life in the form of Dorothea “Dodo” Gibson, a woman who is doomed to live in the shadow of her husband, Alfred, the most celebrated author in the Victorian world.

Girl in a Blue Dress opens on the day of Alfred’s funeral. Dorothea is not among the throngs in attendance when The One and Only is laid to rest. Her mourning must take place within the walls of her modest apartment, a parting...