Book of the week: Broken Heartlands by Sebastian Payne
An ‘engrossing, warm and insightful’ guide to Labour’s evisceration in its traditional heartlands
The Great Exhibition of 1851 is often seen as a pivotal moment in British history, when the country fully made the shift to modernity, said Lucasta Miller in the FT. But according to the literary scholar Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, the year was also a “turning point” for Charles Dickens: he argues in this absorbing book that it was when the great Victorian novelist, then in his late 30s, made his defining “creative leap”.
Until then, he’d been known as a “jaunty boulevardier who told linear stories of jeopardy and redemption about children”, said Kathryn Hughes in The Guardian. But towards the end of the year, he embarked on Bleak House, which would establish him as “one of the great social documentarians of the 19th century”. In this “sparklingly informative book”, Douglas-Fairhurst explores Dickens’s deepening engagement with society, and his expanding artistic vision.
Dickens was certainly manically busy in 1851, said Laura Freeman in The Times. Along with editing his weekly journal, Household Words, he moved house, put on a play, founded a benevolent society for writers, and oversaw the running of “Urania Cottage”, a refuge for fallen women in London’s Shepherd’s Bush.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
He even found time – with his wife Catherine, mother to his ten children – to publish a cookbook. Amid it all, he visited the Great Exhibition, but was unimpressed: the Crystal Palace, he wrote, was the “most gigantic Humbug ever mounted on a long-suffering people”.
Nonetheless, Douglas-Fairhurst argues that Bleak House became a kind of fictional version of the Great Exhibition, said Tom Williams in The Spectator: “one that told a story about the nation that was home to such a variety of people and events”. Full of pertinent details and sharp insights, The Turning Point is a “fascinating” work of biography.
Jonathan Cape 368pp £25; The Week Bookshop £19.99
The Week Bookshop
To order this title or any other book in print, visit theweekbookshop.co.uk, or speak to a bookseller on 020-3176 3835. Opening times: Monday to Saturday 9am-5.30pm and Sunday 10am-4pm.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The Vietnamese migrants crossing the Channel
The Explainer 2024 has seen a surge in the numbers of Vietnamese migrants making the illegal passage into the UK
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
How to make the most of your leftover pumpkins
The Week Recommends As the Halloween fun wraps up, snap up pumpkins still on sale and don't leave your jack-o-lanterns to rot
By Tess Foley-Cox Published
-
How Harris and Trump differ on education
The Explainer Trump wants to disband the Department of Education. Harris wants to boost teacher pay.
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Vanessa Bell: A World of Form and Colour – an 'expansive' exhibition
The Week Recommends The 'sweeping' show features over 140 works from paintings to ceramics
By The Week UK Published
-
Kate Summerscale picks her favourite true crime books
The Week Recommends The writer shares works by Janet Malcolm, Helen Garner and Mark O'Connell
By The Week UK Published
-
The Forsyte Saga: 'faultless' production with a 'pitch-perfect' cast
The Week Recommends Theatrical adaptation of John Galsworthy's novels is a 'must-see' show
By The Week Published
-
6 exciting homes for athletes
Feature Featuring a rock-climbing wall in New York and a basketball-tennis court in Washington
By The Week Staff Published
-
Peter Ames Carlin's 6 favorite books on pop culture icons
Feature The author recommends works by James McBride, Jim Bouton, and more
By The Week US Published
-
The Wild Robot: animated adventure is 'warm, funny and wise'
The Week Recommends 'Sharply written and richly detailed' adaptation of Peter Brown's best-selling book
By The Week UK Published
-
Francis Bacon: Human Presence – a 'stirring, splendid' exhibition
The Week Recommends 'Riveting' show at the National Portrait Gallery explores the artist's 'wild' portraits
By The Week UK Published
-
Robert McCrum shares his favourite books on sport
The Week Recommends Writer and editor picks works by Nick Hornby, David Goldblatt and others
By The Week UK Published