Annie Elliot, author of 'Mr & Mrs Charles Dickens: Her Story' - Knowing when you need to get words written, mining your own past, and was Charles Dickens a narcissist?

Annie Elliot has always been around words. She worked in local government, taught communication, as a newspaper reporter, which taught her the importance of being able to get the words down on time. She's written short-stories and flash-fiction which have been successful in competitions, and was longlisted for Mxslexia Magazine's Novel Award. Her new novel is 'Mr & Mrs Charles Dickens: Her Story'. It's a self-portrait of Catherine, Charles Dickens' wife, and the marriage that nearly destroyed her. After 22 years of marriage, she was banished from the home and their nine children, with her reputation destroyed, when her husband fell in love with an 18 year old actress. On her deathbed, Kate asked her daughter to give Charles' letters to the British Museum, 'so the world may know he loved me once'. Annie's novel fulfills her dying wish, and restores Kate to history as more than a famous author's discarded wife. We talk about Annie's career, and what that taught her about communication and precision. You can hear why she went back to school, and what Annie learned from a masters degree. We discuss her thorough research, why she is in the best place to write, and how 'Hamnet' inspired her story. You can get a copy of the book at uk.bookshop.org/shop/writersroutine Support the show - patreon.com/writersroutine ko-fi.com/writersroutine This week's episode is sponsored by Philippa Hall's 'Quick Book Reviews' podcast, take a listen wherever you've got this show. Get the newsletter - writersroutine.substack.com @writerspod writersroutine.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Annie Elliot, author of 'Mr & Mrs Charles Dickens: Her Story' - Knowing when you need to get words written, mining your own past, and was Charles Dickens a narcissist? is an episode from Writer's Routine by Dan Simpson.

This episode is 1:00:07 long.

This episode was published on Apr 16, 2026.

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