Five Weeks in the Country

Hans Christian Andersen visits Charles Dickens and his family in this revealing novel from Prose (The Vixen). The first section is narrated collectively by the nine Dickens children, who are confused and saddened by their customarily jovial father’s coldness and angry impatience since he moved the household from London to Gad’s Hill, a rural mansion in Kent. With the arrival of Andersen in spring 1857, the children find the perfect target for their pranks and mockery in the gangly and hypersensitive Dane, who speaks very little English but worships Dickens. In the next part, Dickens, 45, details his infatuation with a pretty 17-year-old actress he has cast in his new play. His torment hardly justifies his cruel treatment of his wife, Catherine, whom he taunts and demeans. He’s also intensely jealous of his guest, refusing to show Andersen any approval or encouragement. Just as the reader begins to tire of the Dickens family, Prose turns to Andersen. In this final, vibrant section, the Danish writer reflects on his frustrations as a gay man unable to maintain a satisfying relationship, and he accurately details all that he has observed at Gad’s Hill in a thinly disguised fairy tale about a comet causing fear and wonder. There’s much to admire in this tale. (May)