Ken Gelder

So it's going to give you that kind of stuff, you know, in a straight way.

It's not going to really reimagine.

It doesn't really reimagine that kind of stuff.

It's pretty straight.

Yes, I think, I mean, the novel is overshadowed by Dickens and it's partly because the son, Plorn, is also overshadowed by Dickens.

I mean, everyone in the novel seems to be overshadowed

you know, by Dickens.

The influence of Dickens is massive in this novel.

So, Plawn is worried about his father's reputation because his father has left his wife.

Charles Dickens left his wife, Catherine.

had a longstanding affair with Ellen Ternan, the actress, an actress at the time.

Yes, exactly.

Yes, well, there has been, I think, over the last 15, 20 years or so especially,

a lot of interest in Dickens' relationship to his wife and the way he treated his wife, which is quite bad.

He treated his wife very badly.

And so Plorn, when he comes to Australia, is really worried that Australians will think of his father in those terms, think of his father as a scandalous figure and so on.

But nobody in the colonies seems to want to think that way.

The only other person who does really is Plorn's older brother, Alfred, who's already in Australia now.

And it's quite successful as a squatter.

Everyone in Australia seems completely forgiving of Dickens, who by the end of the novel dies.