An introduction - Mrs Gamp

Here's Mrs Gamp in her introduction.

She was a fat old woman, this Mrs Gamp, with a husky voice and a moist eye which she had a remarkable power of turning up and only showing the white of it. Having very little neck, it cost her some trouble to look over herself, if one may say so, at those to whom she talked.... The face of Mrs Gamp - the nose in particular - was somewhat red and swollen, and it was difficult to enjoy her society without becoming concious of a smell of spirits.


Martin Chuzzlewit

Mrs Nickleby

Here's a long one but Mrs Nickleby's chunterings are a favourite of mine and nothing uttered by her could ever be short.

Your grandmother, Kate, was exactly the same - precisely. The least excitement, the slightest surprise, she fainted away directly. I have heard her say, often and often, that when she was a young lady, and before she was married, she was turning a corner into Oxford Street one day, when she ran against her own hairdresser, who, it seems, was escaping from a bear; - the mere suddenness of the encounter made her faint away directly. Wait, though,' added Mrs Nickleby, pausing to consider. 'Let me be sure I'm right. Was it her hairdresser who had escaped from a bear, or was it a bear who had escaped from her hairdresser's? I declare I can't remember just now, but the hairdresser was a very handsome man, I know, and quite a gentleman in his manners; so that it has nothing to do with the point of the story.'

Nicholas Nickleby

Alfred Jingle

I might save Jingle's dog story for the 7th but for now, here he is with another piece of fiction, duly noted down by Pickwick.

'Terrible place - dangerous work - other day - five children - mother - tall lady, eating sandwiches - forgot the arch - crash - knock - children look round - mother's head off - sandwich in her hand - no mouth to put it in - head of a family off - shocking, shocking!'

Pickwick Papers.

Buddy Holly

Another anniversary. 53 years ago tomorrow, Buddy Holly died in a plane crash.

I'll be playing Buddy Holly and the Crickets in the shop tomorrow, if I can find the CDs.

Must tidy this place one day!

Mrs Gamp

In many places in his novels, Dickens suggests that the consumption of beer, wine or spirits is an inseparable part of the character he is describing. Mrs Gamp has more than her fair share of quotes in this book and, no doubt, more than her fair share of gin.

'Tell Mrs Gamp to come upstairs,' said Mould. 'Now Mrs Gamp, what's your news?'
The lady in question was by this time in the doorway, curtseying to Mrs Mould. At the same moment a peculiar fragrance was borne upon the breeze, as if a passing fairy had hiccoughed, and had previously been to a wine vault.


Martin Chuzzlewit.

Sale 20% off children's books

February is not only important because of the Dickens bi-centenary though.

We have decided to have a genuine

SALE

for the very first time in our ten year history.

ALL children's books in stock are on sale at

20% off

throughout this month.

So if you want them reading quietly, this half term, look in and browse the shelves.

The Wicked Wit of CD - Mr Squeers

Shelley Klein's collection of pithy and humourous extracts from the novels of Charles Dickens, The Wicked Wit of Charles Dickens, contains a wealth of my favourites and I'll pop one on each day from now to the great man's birth date, 7th Feb.

His description of the facial features of Dotheboys Hall's decidedly wicked 'headmaster', is both very funny and a masterpiece of vivid description making Squeers unforgettable from his very introduction.

"Mr Squeers's appearance was not prepossessing. He had but one eye and the popular prejudice runs in favour of two."