Emily Howes for Mrs Dickens

The woman behind The Painter's Daughters returns; from eighteenth-century Bath, following a portrait artist and his daughters, join us for a deeper glimpse into Emily Howes' new historical fiction. Here, we discover the forgotten story of a nineteen-year-old woman who falls in love with the young journalist, Charles Dickens.

Kate delights in her new life, the balm to her new husband's irrepressible spirit. But as he finds fame as a novelist and the family rise through the ranks of Victorian society, Kate becomes increasingly aware of his frustration that real people cannot be manipulated as easily as his characters.

A young orphan, Anne, has lost everything but is determined to make her way in the world. A chance encounter with the Dickens family transports her to the heart of the household, opening up a world of privilege, travel and remarkable company. But her new-found freedom has come at a cost she cannot always ignore.

Mrs Dickens traces a long marriage in all its tenderness, grief, romance and fury. It illuminates the complex, forgotten woman whose voice went unheard but whose story deserves to be told.

'Mrs Dickens has my whole heart . . . I was enthralled' Jennie Godfrey

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.