In 1858, Charles Dickens wrote a private letter explaining the collapse of his marriage. It was meant to be shown, not published. Within months, it appeared in newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic.

This episode tells the story of that letter and what followed.

The full text is read aloud, then placed in historical context alongside Dickens’s public statement, contemporary press reactions, and what later emerged about the lives of Catherine Dickens and Ellen Ternan.

This is not a verdict. It is an inquiry into how letters shape power, silence, and legacy, and what happens when private words outlive the people who wrote them.

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Sources

• Charles Dickens, letter to Arthur Smith, 25 May 1858 (“The Violated Letter”)

• Charles Dickens, “Personal,” Household Words and The Times, June 1858

• Contemporary newspaper coverage, August–September 1858

• Claire Tomalin, The Invisible Woman

• Lillian Nayder, The Other Dickens

• Patrick Leary, “How the Dickens Scandal Went Viral,” The Victorian Web

• Charles Dickens Museum, Catherine Dickens correspondence