Annie Elliot, author of 'Mr & Mrs Charles Dickens: Her Story' - Knowing when you need to get words written, mining your own past, and was Charles Dickens a narcissist?

About this episode

Annie Elliot discusses her novel about Catherine Dickens and shares insights from her writing career.

Annie Elliot has always been around words. She worked in local government, taught communication, as a newspaper reporter, which taught her the importance of being able to get the words down on time. She's written short-stories and flash-fiction which have been successful in competitions, and was longlisted for Mxslexia Magazine's Novel Award. Her new novel is 'Mr & Mrs Charles Dickens: Her Story'. It's a self-portrait of Catherine, Charles Dickens' wife, and the marriage that nearly destroyed her. After 22 years of marriage, she was banished from the home and their nine children, with her reputation destroyed, when her husband fell in love with an 18 year old actress. On her deathbed, Kate asked her daughter to give Charles' letters to the British Museum, 'so the world may know he loved me once'. Annie's novel fulfills her dying wish, and restores Kate to history as more than a famous author's discarded wife. We talk about Annie's career, and what that taught her about communication and precision. You can hear why she went back to school, and what Annie learned from a masters degree. We discuss her thorough research, why she is in the best place to write, and how 'Hamnet'…

People in this episode

Host: Dan Simpson

Guest: Annie Elliot

Topics covered

• writing process
• historical fiction
• communication skills
• research
• Charles Dickens
• women's history

Keywords

• Annie Elliot
• Charles Dickens
• historical fiction
• writing advice
• communication
• research

Sponsors

Philippa Hall's 'Quick Book Reviews' podcast

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Mxslexia Magazine, British Museum

Books & works: Mr & Mrs Charles Dickens: Her Story

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