Over Christmas 2015 and New Year 2016 I watched the drama Dickensian on the television which brought together characters from a number of different Charles Dickens novels. It wasn't until watching this that I realised just how few Dickens novels I have read (A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist - all a very long time ago) and how few of the character names I recognised. I looked up some of the characters on the internet to find out in which books they had appeared. The characters I was most interested in following up on were the sisters Honoria and Frances Barbary and also the Detective Mr Bucket. As they all appear in Bleak House I decided to read this book.
This book has 67 chapters and at least as many characters! It begins with a lengthy explanation of the Court of Chancery and the very long running case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. No-one alive seems to entirely understand the case which keeps on running long past the deaths of the original Jarndyces and affects the lives of the later generations in the family.
The main character in the book, who narrates a number of the chapters, is Miss Esther Summerson. At the beginning she is a small child who is in the not very loving care of her godmother. She is allowed to go to school, but then must come straight home and is not allowed to mix with any of the other children. Her godmother repeatedly tells Esther that 'Your mother, Esther, is your disgrace, and you were hers'. She is not allowed to celebrate her birthday or to ask questions about her mother. Upon the death of the godmother, Esther discovers that she was actually her aunt and her only living relative. The aunt had made arrangements for Esther to be taken care of through Mr Kenge, a lawyer with Kenge and Carboys. The funds for Esther's care were provided by Mr Jarndyce who, at this point, Esther has neither heard of nor seen.
For six years Esther lives at Greenleaf where she learns how to become a governess and begins to teach some of the younger boarders. One day she receives a letter advising that Mr Jarndyce is about to receive a Ward of Court into his house through the Court of Chancery and he would like Esther to become her companion. She travels to London and meets with Miss Ada Clare and also her distant cousin Mr Richard Carstone. Both Ada and Richard are orphaned, and also until this day have never met. Both are to become Wards of Court to Mr Jarndyce. All three go to live at Bleak House with Mr John Jarndyce as their appointed guardian. Esther takes on the role of companion, organiser and housekeeper.
Sir Leicester Dedlock and Lady Dedlock spend their time between their country house, Chesney Wolds, in Lincolnshire, their house in London and travelling around to fashionable places, such as the Paris fashion houses, where Lady Dedlock acquires the most up to date and fashionable wares. Lady Dedlock finds a lot of things very tiresome and dreary.
Mr Tulkinghorn is Sir Leicester's attorney-at-law who regularly appears at Chesney Wolds for a night or two and then goes back to his office in London. Mr Tulkinghorn is a senior attorney and much respected by his colleagues. He only shares the absolute minimum amount of information and seems to know a lot about what is happening everywhere.
As a lot of the story takes place in London and around the courts there are numerous characters within the book who work within the legal profession in one manner or another. Upon the sudden death of a gentleman, name unknown, who provides a handwriting service to the courts and attorneys, a bundle of old letters is discovered within his papers. These are taken and hidden away. The death of the man and the letters spark off an interest by a few of the legal parties into who the man was. He is only really known by Joe, a young homeless boy who sweeps the crossings. Joe has to attend a hearing about the death to give evidence. He is then approached by a woman with a veil and asked to show her where the death, the hearing and the burial took place. After giving him cash for his services the woman disappears. Mr Bucket, the detective, is introduced to Joe so that he can hear the story about the veiled woman. Mr Bucket is very tenacious in all his investigations.
As the story progresses there are further deaths and disappearances for Mr Bucket to investigate. Mr Guppy, one of the law clerks, becomes enamoured with Esther and begins to investigate her past. Ada and Richard decide they would like to spend their lives together when they are older. Richard tries out a few possibilities for his future career and at one point wonders about the law and begins to take an interest in the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case.
This is a book with a lot of inter-woven, complicated stories. There are so many characters involved, some of whom are known by more than one name! The narrative is very lengthy in parts - why say in three words what can be said in 50?!
This book has taken me three weeks to read. This is the longest time I have ever needed to get through a book, but I am glad I persevered and got to the end. I read the Kindle version, but the paper version must be a large tome or have very small print! I will read another Charles Dickens book, but a shorter one, perhaps next year.
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