Customer Reviews

The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens

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This book, first published in 1990, is about the actress Nelly Ternan, who had a relationship with Charles Dickens from 1857 until his death in 1870. Ms Tomalin writes that Nelly Ternan `played a central role in the life of Charles Dickens at a time when he was perhaps the best-known man in Britain.' While Nelly Ternan was the first person named in Charles Dickens's will, there is very little documentary evidence of her involvement or importance in his life.

So, who is Nelly Ternan, and why was her name effectively removed from history?

Sadly it appears that none of the letters between Charles Dickens and Nelly Ternan survived. By piecing together clues found in contemporary playbills, other documents and photographs, Ms Tomalin has created a portrait of Nelly Ternan and her family. As a consequence of Ms Tomalin's research, we also have a clearer picture of the last years of Dickens's life, some potential insights into his writing, as well as of the times in which he lived.

The main reason that Nelly Ternan does not appear in most accounts of Charles Dickens was because he and others worked so hard to protect his image of respectable Victorian morality. After his death, Nelly Ternan kept quiet as well because of her fear of scandal and humiliation. The second reason had to do with Nelly Ternan's origins: as an actress and as a member of an acting family, she belonged to a class of women not considered respectable. Ironically, Charles Dickens first met Nelly Ternan through his own fascination with the theatre: when her family were hired by his amateur theatrical company.

After Dickens died in 1870, Nelly Ternan married a schoolmaster with whom she had two children. Neither of these children learned of her involvement with Dickens until after her death in 1914.

Much of this biography is based on interpretation and speculation, and Ms Tomalin makes this very clear. I found this an absorbing and often sad story about the shadowy life of a woman who was a hidden part of Charles Dickens's life.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

The invisible woman is the woman who, for the last thirteen years of Charles Dickens's life, was his secret obsession and intimate companion. Her name was Nelly Ternan; she was an actress, reared in a family history of performers but within a few years of meeting Dickens she left the stage and disappeared from public view. Although she reappeared, she was always liable to become invisible again, sometimes by her own choice, sometimes at the insistence who preferred to keep her out of sight.

Her disappearance was considered essential for the protection of Dickens good name with a public that idolized him. It enabled him to continue in his role as the great upholder of family values. It also protected Nelly from scandal. So efficiently did Dickens and Nelly shield themselves that they managed to efface most of the traces of their association; she was able to reappear after his death as an entirely new person, constructing a background, history and even age to suit the requirements of the society she wished to enter.

We move through this book in three parts of Nelly's life. A child actress, a hidden love and a respectable wife and mother which span the Victorian and Edwardian ages. In her lifetime no one asked Nelly for her memories, any more than they asked her sisters Fanny and Maria, both writers who had also known Dickens intimately. It was only after the First World War and Nelly's death that this part in Dickens life began to be discussed openly, though even then some denied the very possibility of the association.

The Author Claire Tomalin looks at this story from her own point of view, but it does offer up some new perspective and surprises. What I loved most about this book, it reads like a Dickens novel, wonderful social history, part detective, many twist and turns involving lost and found diaries and inked-out letters, playbills, hidden bank accounts, railway networks, newspaper reports and disappearing babies. While on Nelly's side of the family, part of the journey is a history of actresses. We get a feel of what it was like to be an actress before an audience that simultaneously despised and desired you. Another interesting aspect was the way Dickens lived this part of his life in codes, to protect Nelly who was not so much asked but forced to live in a world of double identities and secret arrangements; or find herself as damaged goods with an uncertain future.

Overall I love this book, it reminded me of the programme Who Do You Think You Are? Looking into our own family history and finding the emotional highs and lows, the element of surprise when discovering a secret, one that our great grandparents had tried to bury. The Invisible Woman is highly recommended, its entertaining reading and an account of a love affair that cast its shadow over two families and two generations, a century later, it remains a matter of dispute.

Andrea Bowhill