Jonty Claypole

But do you get a sense that Bleak House would have had some impact on the sense of mounting public outrage on the need that some reform needed to happen?

I'm going to ask one more question, Brett, before I let you go.

But before that, just to say that this chapter ends with the mention in the course of Chancery, the Lord Chancellor in the case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, that there are two young wards of the case, a young man and a young woman are introduced who are going to be put into the guardianship of a

cousin from the Jarndyce family.

And these characters are going to appear over the coming chapters to be some of our main players in this story.

But Brett, my last question is, I mean, I've been asking you about the kind of legal side of this and the law, but turning to aesthetics, you are also a great lover of literature and

supporter of literature, somebody who appreciates literature.

How do you find this first chapter of Bleak House?

What are your impressions of it as a piece of writing?

Fabulous.

Brett, thank you so much for coming on and making sense of all of that for us, of Chancery and why it was so controversial.

So important to do at the start of this long, deep dive we are making into Bleak House.

Today, we have talked about chapter one.

There are in total 67 chapters.

Listeners will be glad to hear that we're not going to be spending hours

an hour and 15 on every single chapter.

We're going to start to take several in one gallop each time, but we will be spending the next three to four months on Bleak House in the Secret Life of Books book club.

So if you've enjoyed this episode and you want to come with us on the rest of this journey, please subscribe now.

You've been listening to the Secret Life of Books.

Sophie, have you ever seen a wombat in the wild?