1 CD.
Introduced and Performed by Miriam Margolyes.
Straight from the theatre in the West End of London, via BBC Radio, comes a rich assortment of Dickens' finest females from Sairah Gamp to Miss Havisham, not forgetting Little Nell. Devised, written, introduced and performed by Miriam Margolyes.
"I've been a great admirer of Dickens, a passionate admirer, all my life and I want to share with you my relish in his humour and variety and vitality."
And share Miriam Margolyes certainly does, as she brings to life - with the help of a piano and an appreciative audience - Dickens' most famous female characters as never before, tracing the startling similarity between the women in his work and the women in his life.
There is The Old Curiosity Shop's Little Nell, based upon his sister-in-law Mary Hogarth whose death at 17 left him bereft, the loyal Mrs Micawber from David Copperfield inspired by his own mother, not to mention the cold, embittered Miss Havisham from Great Expectations, possibly Dickens himself at the end of his life.
A fascinating, often funny, sometimes tongue-in-cheek revelation of the writer himself, showing the full range of Dickens' talent from the humour in his characterisations to the darker, more intense side of his work, all courtesy of the brilliant Ms Margolyes.