Catherine Hogarth married Charles Dickens in 1836. She bore him ten children. He made her the villain of their separation, publicly humiliating her and largely excluding her from his biography. Emily Howes restores her to the centre of the story.
 
In Mrs Dickens, Emily gives Catherine her voice back - tracing the arc of a marriage that began with love and ended in cruelty, and asking what it meant to be the wife of a genius in Victorian England. In conversation with Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival Chair, Julia Wakelam, Emily discusses her meticulous research, her passion for giving marginalised historical women their due, and the enduring fascination of the Dickens myth.
 
Format: Interview & Q&A
Themes: Fiction, Adults, Young People, Local Interest, History, Literary, Book Club
Access: Hearing Loop
 
Emily Howes Books: Mrs Dickens, The Painter's Daughters
Emily Howes is the award-winning author of The Painter's Daughters. She has worked as a storyteller, theatre maker, performer, writer and director in stage, television and radio. In addition to writing fiction, Emily has a Masters in Existential Psychotherapy and works as a psychotherapist in private practice. She lives in London with her children.
 
Julia Wakelam
Julia Wakelam is one of the founders of Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival and the Chair of Trustees.