Girl in a Blue Dress

May 25, 2009
Longlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize, Arnold's accomplished debut is a fictionalized take on the tumultuous marriage of Charles and Catherine Dickens. On the day of famed writer Alfred Gibson's public funeral, his estranged widow, Dorothea (Dodo), sits alone in her small London apartment, reminiscing about “the One and Only.” Although caring deeply about his public image as a family man, Alfred's actual relationship with his brood is fraught by his egomaniacal demands and philandering, his career eclipsing everything else. Dodo wishes she could climb onto the page, become one of her husband's protagonists and cajole him to pay attention to her. After years of marriage, Alfred casts Dodo out of the family home after taking up with a mistress, publicly shaming her, and admonishing their children not to visit her. After Alfred's death, Dodo grapples with the choice of emerging from her self-imposed exile or remaining in seclusion without facing the public who revered him. Arnold's impeccable research paints an entirely different portrait of Dickens than that assumed by readers of his fiction.

June 15, 2009
Engrossing examination of the life and failed marriage of a hugely popular Victorian novelist (read: Charles Dickens).

Arnold's confident debut offers a sympathetic, intensely readable account of the mixed blessings of living with a vast, restless and charismatic talent destined to become a national institution. Alfred Gibson is a playful but penniless actor/playwright/legal clerk when he meets unworldly Dorothea Millar, daughter of a benefactor. But he is a man full of energy, charm and humor, a workaholic whose undying fear is of returning to poverty, and whose ceaseless writing will eventually transform him into"the One and Only," a celebrity beloved by and in thrall to the Public. Dorothea, initially dazzled by Alfred, sinks slowly into disenchantment, growing stouter but feebler through eight pregnancies, gradually frozen out of the marriage by her passivity, weak health and social shortcomings. Narrated by Dorothea after Alfred's death, the novel reveals how she was bullied by her husband, who increasingly lavished his affections on younger, slimmer, more childlike women (much like her sister Alice, whose premature death Alfred mourned with inappropriate fervor). Finally, he forced her to sign a separation agreement, and ten years of isolation followed. But the Great Man's death marks a turning point, with Dorothea reconnecting to her estranged family and coming to terms with Alfred's character. Drawn out and indicative of sudden changes in its heroine, this last section is the weakest in an otherwise appealing novel.

Humane and plausible.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from June 15, 2009
"From very early on in our marriage it seemed as though I could possess only what the world had left behindthe cuffs and coattails of his existence." In this impressive debut, Arnold explores the roles of marriage, motherhood, and celebrity in Victorian England. As the country mourns the passing of beloved writer Alfred Gibson, his wife remains secluded in her home, unwelcome at his funeral. Dorothea Gibson, who once traveled throughout Europe and America as her celebrated husband's muse, now lives the life of a recluse, long estranged from Alfred and most of her adult children. Dorothea begins to reflect on her life with the brilliant and charismatic but undeniably flawed artist and to contemplate the choices that pushed their relationship toward its decline. VERDICT Told in flashbacks, this debut by a middle-aged British social worker takes an intimate, unflinching look at a marriage, one that will leave readers shifting uncomfortably in their chairs even as their eyes remain riveted to the pages. Inspired by the life of Catherine Dickens, it was long-listed for the 2009 Man Booker Prize after its 2008 UK publication. [This was a pick at BookExpo 2009's Librarians' Book Shout and Share program.Ed.]Makiia Lucier, Moscow, ID

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2009
Drawing on the life and the discontented marriage of Charles Dickens for inspiration, Arnold paints a vivid portrait of a celebrated Victorian author and his unfailingly devoted wife. When beautiful, well-heeled Dorothea Dodo Millar defies her beloved parents in order to marry aspiring writer Alfred Gibson, she gives up more than her comfortable home: she irrevocably binds herself to a genius whose egoconstantly fed by an adoring publicis boundless. Twenty years and eight children later, the world is shocked when revered family man and wildly popular author Alfred abruptly severs ties with Dodo and unceremoniously sends her packing. Though she remains loyal to her husband for 10 lonely years after her painful public humiliation, Dodo uses the occasion of his death to reflect back on her years with the self-termed One and Only. What she eventually learns about Alfred and, most of all, about herself provides her with an unexpected and rewarding sense of self-empowerment. Already a best-seller in England, this fictional spin on a famous marriage should find a ready-made audience in historical fiction fans and Dickens buffs.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)