Tattycoram

Fiction & Literature, Literary
Cover of the book Tattycoram by Audrey Thomas, Goose Lane Editions
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Audrey Thomas ISBN: 9780864925879
Publisher: Goose Lane Editions Publication: November 1, 2010
Imprint: Goose Lane Editions Language: English
Author: Audrey Thomas
ISBN: 9780864925879
Publisher: Goose Lane Editions
Publication: November 1, 2010
Imprint: Goose Lane Editions
Language: English

Caricatured by Charles Dickens in Little Dorrit as the cantankerous maid of Mr. and Mrs. Meagles, “Tattycoram” tells her own life story in this utterly compelling metafiction by the celebrated author of Isobel Gunn. Throughout her career, Audrey Thomas has repeatedly challenged her readers to follow her into new territory. In Tattycoram, she does it again, taking readers into the distant fictional world of Charles Dickens’s England, where, in an unusual twist, Dickens interacts with his own characters, allowing Thomas to raise questions about the intersection of life and art. In Thomas’s hands, Harriet Coram gains both a poignant personal history and a quiet dignity. Abandoned as a baby at the London Foundling Hospital and cared for by a kindly foster mother until the age of five, the young Hattie attracts the attention of the Victorian novelist Charles Dickens, who hires her as the family housemaid. In the Dickens household, Charles’s sister Miss Georgina takes an instant dislike to Hattie’s pretty looks and trains her caged raven to tease her with the mocking nickname of Tattycoram. Although Hattie escapes from Dickens and his family to care for her dying foster mother in the country, she is later swept back under the famous author’s sphere of observation as a teacher in his newly founded school for released female convicts. There she befriends Elizabeth Avis, who also appears as another minor character from Little Dorrit. In typical Dickensian fashion, Hattie meets not one, but two, long-lost brothers and falls in love with the one who conveniently turns out not to be her “real” brother. But first, she must confront her benefactor about his shameless misrepresentation of her and Elizabeth’s characters in his latest novel.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Caricatured by Charles Dickens in Little Dorrit as the cantankerous maid of Mr. and Mrs. Meagles, “Tattycoram” tells her own life story in this utterly compelling metafiction by the celebrated author of Isobel Gunn. Throughout her career, Audrey Thomas has repeatedly challenged her readers to follow her into new territory. In Tattycoram, she does it again, taking readers into the distant fictional world of Charles Dickens’s England, where, in an unusual twist, Dickens interacts with his own characters, allowing Thomas to raise questions about the intersection of life and art. In Thomas’s hands, Harriet Coram gains both a poignant personal history and a quiet dignity. Abandoned as a baby at the London Foundling Hospital and cared for by a kindly foster mother until the age of five, the young Hattie attracts the attention of the Victorian novelist Charles Dickens, who hires her as the family housemaid. In the Dickens household, Charles’s sister Miss Georgina takes an instant dislike to Hattie’s pretty looks and trains her caged raven to tease her with the mocking nickname of Tattycoram. Although Hattie escapes from Dickens and his family to care for her dying foster mother in the country, she is later swept back under the famous author’s sphere of observation as a teacher in his newly founded school for released female convicts. There she befriends Elizabeth Avis, who also appears as another minor character from Little Dorrit. In typical Dickensian fashion, Hattie meets not one, but two, long-lost brothers and falls in love with the one who conveniently turns out not to be her “real” brother. But first, she must confront her benefactor about his shameless misrepresentation of her and Elizabeth’s characters in his latest novel.

More books from Goose Lane Editions

Cover of the book Split by Audrey Thomas
Cover of the book Saint John Fortifications, 1630-1956 by Audrey Thomas
Cover of the book Bamboo Cage by Audrey Thomas
Cover of the book Battle for the Bay: The Naval War of 1812 by Audrey Thomas
Cover of the book Birds of a Feather by Audrey Thomas
Cover of the book The Bitter Harvest of War by Audrey Thomas
Cover of the book The M Word by Audrey Thomas
Cover of the book Steel Cavalry: The 8th (New Brunswick) Hussars and the Italian Campaign by Audrey Thomas
Cover of the book Driven by Audrey Thomas
Cover of the book The Bastard of Fort Stikine by Audrey Thomas
Cover of the book Great Maritime Achievers in Science and Technology by Audrey Thomas
Cover of the book The Violin Lover by Audrey Thomas
Cover of the book Down Inside by Audrey Thomas
Cover of the book Bittersweet by Audrey Thomas
Cover of the book A Boy's Life of Napoleon by Audrey Thomas
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy