Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold

Inspired by the story of Charles Dickens' life, this novel describes a charismatic but difficult man who abandoned his wife and kept her from their eight children. It is told from the wife's point of view and the reader becomes engaged in figuring out the nature of the husband's character as described through the love-smogged view of his wife's eyes. It is a brilliant character story told in sensitive and lucid terms and makes you want to read a standard biography of Dickens.