Dickens' Women

by Miriam Margolyes, Sonia Fraser

A celebration of the singular female characters to be found in Dickens's works In his novels Dickens presents a series of unrivaled portraits of women, young and old. From Little Nell to Miss Havisham, these girls and women speak to audiences today, making readers laugh and sometimes cry. The popular British actress Miriam Margolyes will be touring the world in 2012, the bicentenary of Dickens birth, with a one-woman show about Dickens' women, and this book accompanies the show by building on the script and expanding to include many more of the female characters Dickens described and analyzed so astutely in his novels. "Mrs Pipchin was a marvellous ill-favoured, ill-conditioned old lady, of a stooping figure, with a mottled face, like bad marble, a hook nose, and a hard grey eye, that looked as if it might have been hammered at on an anvil without sustaining any injury."

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Classics, Books About Books, Biography, Historical

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Born in Oxford, England in 1941 and educated at Newnham College, Cambridge, Miriam Margolyes is a veteran of stage and screen, an award-winning actress who achieved success on both sides of the Atlantic. Winner of the BAFTA Best Supporting Actress award in 1993 for The Age of Innocence, she also received Best Supporting Actress at the 1989 LA Critics Circle Awards for her role in Little Dorrit and a Sony Radio Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her unabridged recording of ‘Oliver Twist’. She was the voice of the Matchmaker in Mulan & Fly, the mother dog, in Babe.

Her voice work has been internationally acclaimed & she is regarded as the most accomplished female voice in Britain: she has recorded many audio books including Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, Alice in Wonderland & Alice Through the Looking-Glass, Matilda, Pinnocchio, The Worst Witch series, The Queen & I (one of the best-selling audio books in the world) The Little White Horse, The Sea, Troy & Wise Child ).

Reviews

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Right down the street - in my local park - stands a statue of Dickens and Little Nell. Every year, there is a Dickens celebration. On year, it was some anniversary, Miriam Margolyes showed up. She is like 21 shades of awesome.

I have a love/hate relationship with Dickens. I love some of his work, others I hate. I prefer Trollope to a degree because Trollope writes better women. Margolyes audio version of her stage show is quiet amusing, if not as critical as perhaps one would like. Still if you like Margoyles, this is well worth listening to.

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaing, and she knows her stuff, but anyone looking for an in depth analysis won't find it here. It's only a 90 minute show.

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where I got the book: I went to see Miriam Margolyes (who is a co-author) perform the one-woman stage play of the same name at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. Afterwards she flogged the book for $20 and did a signing. You may know by now that I'm a sucker for a signed book.

The middle of this slim volume is taken up by the script of the stage play. Topping and tailing it are two, well, I suppose you'd call them essays, one talking about Dickens and women generally, and the other covering some material left out of the play. Copious quotes from Dickens' work take up, I would estimate, 40% of the book.

As a memento of watching the very excellent Margolyes perform, this has some value to me. She's a superb character actor, and indeed it was quite a shock to hear her talking in her normal (Oxbridge-educated-actress) voice. As a book about Dickens' attitude toward women, I'm sure there are better tomes out there. The material's not bad but not much attention has been given to arrangement, and a little more editing would have helped. I understand there's an audio CD with Margolyes reading; if you're looking for entertainment, read that instead. If you're looking for a scholarly work, keep looking (and if anyone knows of a really good book on the subject, I'd love to know because in itself it's a fascinating study.)

[Miles Edwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've listened to numerous interviews with Miriam Margolyes in which she discusses and explains her love for Charles Dickens, going so far as to call him "the man of her life". I have also listened to her narrations of his works, most notably her brilliant reading of Bleak House, bringing the already vivid characters into even brighter colour and really drawing out the gorgeousness of the prose. I felt incredibly silly when I very belatedly discovered Dickens' Women, and purchased the book and audiobook immediately.

This was just a delicious treat for me. I adore Miriam's approach to Dickens, her love for him and yet simultaneous fury with his awful actions. In this, she does a wonderful job of criticising his depictions of women whilst also highlighting some of his best and most fascinating creations, at times casting them in new light. She has been continuously praised for her reading of Mrs Micawber, drawing our attention to this woman's heartbreaking predicament with a debt riddled husband yet her determination to stand by him. Her Mrs Gamp is tremendously funny, her Mrs Havisham electrifying, and she has been credited for being one of the first people to assert that Miss Wade is a lesbian character, followed by a powerful performance.

I highly recommend listening to the audiobook and reading the book alongside it for extra bits and pieces. A must for all Dickens aficionados, the performances are divine and the passion for the works emanates from the page.

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

By definition this simply doesn't work as well as a book than it does on stage, but Margolyes really gets Dickens.

[Azar Farehi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think this really works as a book, even in the audio format. Seeing the show on stage must've been way more entertaining.
And Dickens was a jerk to most women, his own creations too.

[Maya Panika · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Reviewing the BBC audio CD set) Miriam Margolyes is at her best in this one-woman show, in which she brings some of Dickens’ most memorable female characters to life.

Recorded live, this is a tour de force of comedy and drama by a wonderful actress who knows Dickens well, and loves him too – a love that comes across strongly in this affectionate, but gently satirical, warts and all look, at the life of Dickens through the voices of the women he wrote. Miriam Margolyes finds Dickens’mother, his early loves, his abandoned wife, and even Charles himself in a vivid and energetic performance, full of wit and pathos, peppered with quieter moments on the events of Dickens’ life that inspired his plots and characters.

Dickens’ knew a thing or two about performing his own works, and though I’m sure he would have enjoyed much of Miriam Margolyes performance, he would certainly have blanched at some of her perceptively sharp comedy on his often fraught relationships with all the women in his life.

[Catie]

Mentioned on Tom Reads Things YouTube Channel - Jan 15, 2020

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miriam Margolyes is a wonderful actress and dramatist, she also shares a love for Charles Dickens that has lasted decades. This recording was originally done a number of years ago because I first heard it on a tape cassette many years ago and have been wanting to get the audio for awhile. I'm so glad I did. I have also been to see Miriam perform her Dicken's stage show twice here in Australia and she is amazing. Funny, melancholic, and atmospheric her performances are.
I hope all those who can will find a copy of this and enjoy.

[Gill James · Rating 3 out of 5]

No doubt these two women gave excellent performances and Dickens read out loud is always a treat. There is a pleasing selection here of the women Dickens created. Yet I learnt very little from this that I did not already know from a reading of the primary resources and various biographies of the great writer. There is a missed opportunity here; there is room to delve deeper into the women that surrounded Dickens - bot the ones he created and the one who were part of his own life.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Brilliant. The thought and care put into this piece and why Dickens made choices about the women in his work. I also am reading Miriam Margolyes’ autobiography and she mentions this work several times. Please listen to her perform this piece.

[Gerri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miriam Margolyes is a treasure! This telling of the women who people Dickens' works is both entertaining and educational. I suspect the reason that this work is entertaining and educational is because of Ms. Margolyes' performance. This is worth the listen.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miriam’s gift of character portrayal made this the most delightful listening book. Her quick wit and keen study of Dickens’s life revealed a sensitive portrayal of the well known writer and some of the motivation behind women characters in his stories. I listened to it twice!

[Phyllis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting
Narration was good
I probably would have enjoyed it more had I been more of a Dickens scholar

[Lisa Driscoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miriam Margolyes has a beautiful voice which she uses to marvellous effect. Totally enjoyed her one-woman show and appreciated her understanding of Dickens.

[Emma Dargue · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good but not amazing. Enjoyed it and as always Miriam is a hoot.

[Mira · Rating 2 out of 5]

I normally struggle with Dickens but Miriam shines through and I loved the humour and insight.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely written book on some of Dickens' best female characters.
I now want to read his books again.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful. Margolyes is glorious!!!

[Tesmos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully told stories and useful bio stuff about Dickens too.

[Jtp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Missed her performance of this piece few years ago....assured it would have been more powerful that. Way

[Mark Gibbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and versatile performance here - While not a pure biographical approach - it does let you into Dickens' sark and rather troubled psyche - performed with understanding , love of subject and great warmth - a fitting companion to Simon Callow's The Mystery of Charles Dickens - which takes a similar - though certainly not identical approach - great find for fans of the great man - Wonderful

[Angela Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Charles Dickens's stories but I have never been impressed by his cruel treatment of his wife. This book explains but does not excuse why perhaps he was like how he was. I still think he was a cruel man after reading this, but a brilliant but cruel man who had emotional scars. It was quite illuminating for me.

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short work in which the author deals with the manner in which Dickens portrays women. Readers interested in Dickens might enjoy this book.

[Stevie · Rating 3 out of 5]

hilarious

[Michela Maione · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il difficile rapporto tra Dickens e il sesso femminile è ben noto. Basta dare un'occhiata alla sua biografia per rendersene conto. La stessa cosa vale per le figure femminili, alcune mirabili, partorite dalla suo genio. Tra tutte queste, infatti, non esiste nessuna figura femminile sessualmente matura che stabilisca un rapporto emotivo con l'eroe maschile di turno. La causa di ciò sta proprio nel fatto che lo stesso Dickens ha avuto con tutte le donne della sua vita solo relazioni disastrate, incomplete e distruttive. E, come ha affermato la figlia Kate, non ha mai capito le donne! Questo è il filo conduttore di questa serie di ritratti di donne dickensiane, che compongono lo script di uno spettacolo teatrale prodotto per il Fringe Festival di qualche anno fa, integrato e ripubblicato in occasione del bicentenario.