Super Short Summary

The 1990 biography The Invisible Woman by Claire Tomalin chronicles the secret thirteen-year affair between the Victorian writer Charles Dickens and Nelly Ternan, an actor significantly younger than the married novelist. As Dickens and his executors destroyed many of his private papers, Tomalin uses extensive historical research and imaginative speculation to reconstruct Ternan’s life and her complex relationship with Dickens, highlighting the secrecy and societal pressures they faced. The story includes themes of infidelity, secrecy, and the consequences of societal judgment.