CONSTANCE DICKENS, A TRAGIC ‘MRS MICAWBER’.

CONSTANCE DICKENS, A TRAGIC 'MRS MICAWBER'.

Constance Dickens (nee Desailly) was the wife of Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens, affectionately dubbed Plorn by his father, the author Charles Dickens. Plorn was a contraction of a much longer ‘nonsense’ nickname. The pair married on July 7 1880 at the Desailly residence in outback Wilcannia, New

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‘HARD TIMES’ FOR DICKENS’ STATUE

'HARD TIMES' FOR DICKENS' STATUE

In the 1890s it was decided to ‘dress up’ Sydney’s Centennial Park with monuments of eminent people. One choice was a full size, marble statue of novelist Charles Dickens. However, there was a major problem, as M.P Mr J.D. Fitzgerald made known in State Parliament. He demanded

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FROM PLUM PORRIDGE TO THE ULTIMATE AUSSIE CHRISTMAS PUDDING!

FROM PLUM PORRIDGE TO THE ULTIMATE AUSSIE CHRISTMAS PUDDING!

BIRTH OF THE PUDDING The English have long been maligned for the uninspired stodginess of their cooking, particularly by their gourmet neighbours, the French. Nevertheless, it was a Frenchman, Misson de Valbourg who, upon visiting England in 1690, was moved to exclaim: ‘What an excellent thing is

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A MOTHER’S LOVE AND COURAGE

A MOTHER'S LOVE AND COURAGE

 METHOD IN A MOTHER’S MADNESS In  December 1841 a shabby, careworn woman entered a London  shoe shop, brazenly picked up several items and walked out.  It was a  theft that made no sense at all;  she had  taken a  random couple of boots and a single clog! 

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CHRISTMAS IN THE AUSTRALIAN BUSH

CHRISTMAS IN THE AUSTRALIAN BUSH

‘Oh! All that steam! The pudding had just been taken out of the cauldron. Oh! That smell! The same as the one which prevailed on washing day. It is  that of the cloth which wraps the pudding.  Charles Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol’ Christmas in Australia is a

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ELIZA DONNITHORNE – THE AUSTRALIAN MISS HAVISHAM?

ELIZA DONNITHORNE - THE AUSTRALIAN MISS HAVISHAM?

Did Sydney’s Eliza Donnithorne inspire Charles Dickens? When Pip meets the jilted Miss Havisham in the novel Great Expectations she is dressed in her decaying wedding attire, presenting a terrifying blend of waxwork figure and living skeleton. There is a theory that Charles  Dickens based this character

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A FAILED APPEAL TO CHARLES DICKENS…..

A FAILED APPEAL TO CHARLES DICKENS.....

 SCHOOLGIRLS IN EXILE My  book, The Water Doctor’s Daughters,  is the  biography of a dysfunctional family,  but  it is also Victorian  era true crime.  It centres on the case of French born  governess  Mlle Celestine Doudet.  In 1855 the governess was tried over the deaths of  her

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