Exhibition talk - Livi Michael on Elizabeth Gaskell

Date: Wednesday 17 June 2026
Time: 1.30pm (UK time).
Duration: Approximately 1 hour.

Location: Choose either:

• Attend onsite at 49 Doughty Street, London (limited capacity) 
• Attend virtually on Zoom. Register to receive joining instructions.

To watch this talk 'on demand' simply book a virtual ticket and you'll get the link sent to you as soon as its ready. 

This hybrid talk is free to attend onsite or online but tickets must be booked in advance.

Click here to book an ONSITE ticket.

Click here to book a VIRTUAL ticket.

As an independent charity we welcome any donation supporting the future work of the Charles Dickens Museum. Add this to your booking.

Should you have any difficulties or questions, please email the Events team; events@dickensmuseum.com.

Please note that all event tickets are non-refundable.

Livi Michael has written novels for adults, young adults and children.  Her latest novel, Elizabeth and Ruth was published by Salt in February 2026. Based on the real correspondence between Elizabeth Gaskell and Charles Dickens, Elizabeth and Ruth tells a story of hypocrisy and suppression, and how Elizabeth navigates the censorship and prejudice of the day to help the young girl and to write the novel about her that will ultimately be banned and burned after publication. Livi will be talking about the research and inspiration for her novel.

There will be the opportunity for a short Q+A following the talk.

What’s the Extra/Ordinary Women exhibition about?

Like many great writers, Dickens wrote what he knew and, as a result, has produced some of the greatest stories in the English language. But there were many extraordinary women in Dickens’s life and yet, somehow, they never made it from real life onto the page. The female characters that he created don’t reveal the relationships he had with independent-minded, characterful women, as Dickens tended to play with and reinforce Victorian stereotypes. This exhibition will highlight these differences between the extraordinary women he knew and the ordinary and idealised women he wrote. It will give the real-life women a voice beyond Dickens’s pen.

Kirsty Parsons, curator at the Charles Dickens Museum, said, “Extra/Ordinary Women turns the spotlight towards a whole host of charismatic women who usually remain in the shadow of Charles Dickens. It reveals new sides to people who are often only mentioned in passing or seen through the prism of Dickens’s own views. We are pleased to be telling their fascinating stories here, in the home and neighbourhood which many of them knew so well.”   

At 48 Doughty Street, Charles Dickens (1812-1870) wrote the stories which made him an international superstar. When Dickens and his young family moved into the house in the 1830s, he was a budding author, unknown to most, but by the time the family left, Dickens was world famous, having written a trio of wildly successful novels - The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby – in his study at home. This Victorian literary house is now the Charles Dickens Museum. Purchase a museum admission ticket to explore the historic house and special exhibition.