The Invisible Woman

The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens

This is the story of someone who - almost - wasn't there; who vanished into thin air. Her names, dates, family and experiences very nearly disappeared from the record for good ... Claire Tomalin's multi-award-winning story of the relationship between Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens is a remarkable work of biography and historical revisionism. It not only returns the neglected actress to her rightful place in history, but provides a compelling and truthful portrait of the great Victorian novelist. By examining his diaries and pursuing various other leads, Claire Tomalin is able to detail the relationship beyond all reasonable doubt. The result is a thrilling literary detective story.

About Claire Tomalin

Claire Tomalin was literary editor of the New Statesman then the Sunday Times before leaving to become a full-time writer. Her first book, The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft, won the Whitbread First Book Award, and she has since written a number of highly acclaimed and bestselling biographies. They include Jane Austen: A Life, The Invisible Woman, a definitive account of Dickens' relationship with the actress Ellen Ternan, which won three major literary awards, and Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self was Whitbread Book of the Year in 2002. In the highly acclaimed Charles Dickens: A Life, she presents a full-scale biography of our greatest novelist. She is married to the writer Michael Frayn.
Details
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • ISBN: 9780241963258
  • Length: 384 pages
  • Dimensions: 198mm x 24mm x 130mm
  • Weight: 270g
  • Price: £12.99
All editions