Janet Todd Q&A Lockdown
- Which historical writer would you find it difficult to be self-isolating with? And why?
Charles Dickens. A genius and a tricky man with whom to share a domestic space. Everything revolved around him: silence when required, likewise food and entertainment. So, despite immense admiration, I’d find it difficult so thoroughly to sacrifice my own modest routines and needs to this sort of control. Dickens chose the décor and furniture in his houses, even the wallpaper, worktables, curtains and chairs in his daughters’ bedrooms.
So, I will live with his superb novels rather than imagining anything closer.