NEW Dickens readalong Dombey and Son - the 2025 Dombeyalong!

[Piggywaspushed]

Join me in the next Dickens readalong, Dombeyalongadingdong! This is probably the last big Dickens we haven't done.
The novel was originally published by Dickens in 19 instalments, all exactly 32 pages long (I do find this obsession with 32 pages intriguing- writing to such an exact brief must have involved quite a lot of editing and , as I recall from Nickleby, much padding at times!) and then published in full in 1848. I know nothing of this one really - except the name Paul Dombey sticks in my head. Apparently , this one is more focused on marriage and is read as marking a change in Dickens' presentation of women. Seafaring is involved but this is also his first book about the arrival of railways which Dickens was not altogether sold on. This period was referred to as 'railway mania'. It's really quite hard to conceptualise the rapid progress and change surrounding Dickens.

This one has not been on TV for a long time. Andrew Davies had been working on a version - but it was ditched because it was felt we had had too many 'bonnet dramas'. I swear we have still had many since but rather heavily 'adapted' and maybe Sarah Phelps hasn't read Dombey...

I propose condensing this to an eight month read, using Dickens' shorter sections as a guide . We begin in May, as follows:
May - Chapters 1 - 7
June- Chapters 8-13
July- Chapters 14-22
August - Chapters 23-31
September - Chapters 32-38
October - Chapters 39-45
November - Chapters 46-51
and finishing for Christmas in
December - Chapters 52 - end

Considerably more chapters in this one, so I am guessing some must be quite short.

I'll link Katie's intro in my next post.

Anyone and everyone welcome!

I'll join too if that's ok?

My order for a physical copy has been made, but until that arrives, I will read on the Kindle. For these long reads, it's nicer to have the book. It will be my reminder of the read-along.

I doubt I'll be caught up by the 1st, but I'll follow the thread anyway until then. Call me ignorant, but I'd never heard of this Dickens book before.

Here's to Dombeying along with the rest of you lovely lot!

I am just starting today, hoping to keep up and join in!
I have an entire set of Dickens that was my first anniversary present......I've read one and if I'd read one a year then I should have finished a couple of years ago so need to get to them really! Hopefully this will help keep me motivated.

I have read about 2/3 of this month so far. I am really enjoying it ! Dickensian Awful People to tut at.

Ooops, thanks for the reminder! I’m going to get going today as well.

I love it so far - I think I’m on Ch.5. I don’t think I’ve ever reached that far with Dickens before but this is great.

Indeed! One or two of them are making me feel 'stabby' and the readalong has only just started 😂

Ooh, can I join? I’ve been trying to like Dickens for many years-this might just do it!

Allcomers welcome!

Really enjoying it and looking forward to the discussion!

Dombeying here today. Enjoying it so far.

All the novel is currently missing thus far is a naughty but loveable pony.

Just a reminder everyone for tomorrow!

So, the first instalment gave us a veritable cavalcade of characters.

I thought this a strong opening to our novel. The death of Mrs Dombey in the first chapter started us off with the ideas of inheritance and the purpose of marriage and childbirth to the Victorian business owning class which Dickens describes with no holds barred. Right from the very start the importance of the male child is reinforced:

'He will be christened Paul, of course' and the repeated Dom-bey and son. I am now struggling to not say the book title in my head that way!

Poor Mrs Dombey, who dies in childbirth, unlike the awful Louisa because 'an effort is required' and she didn't make enough, it seems. But the, as Mrs Chick thinks, she had made the mistake of first having a female child which was not a pleasant return for all the attention and distinction she had met with.

Most of the focus, of course, is on poor motherless Florence. It was bad enough for the desperately ignored little girl and then she went and got abducted right after that dire Christening. What a creepy scene that was! And then her nanny, the only nice adult in her life, got sacked! Will she return? It seems a lot of effort by Dickens to create a character if not. I sense lovely, heroic Walter will become important.

I knew already the railway is a feature of this book, first described as an earthquake in Chapter 6. I liked the interesting detail of everyone ignoring it, and saying it will come to nothing- except the pubs who renamed themselves, diversified, and grabbed the obvious business opportunities.

Presumably Miss Tox will marry Mr Dombey? Otherwise , I'm not sure what she is in the book for. Se is even introduced as a very bland voice.

I have liked this childhood section - I think next Dickens plans to fast forward us as Dombey and Baby Son won't require much from the Son!

Hi Piggy! Thanks for opening the discussion! I agree with all your points and was thinking the same.

I really liked this first instalment. I don't know why I had never heard of 'Dombey and Son' before. He's a bit of an Ebenezer Scrooge character with notions of his position in society. I liked the description of the railway which was mentioned in 'Martin Chuzzlewit'.

I enjoyed the various characters and the humour so far (AD standing for Anno Dombei made me chuckle).

I'm going to enjoy this book, I'm sure. It is Dickens at his best, I think. I'll be back later on. I am doing a reread of the chapters as I have been a bit distracted this week.

Morning! I have also really enjoyed this opening section. I feel very sorry for poor little Florence - ignored, abducted, having all her clothes stolen and then her nanny being sacked.

I also felt sorry for Polly Toodle - having to effectively abandon her own children (and her own name!) to be able to look after baby Paul, and not even to be allowed to visit them. There must have been many women in similar situations. I suppose it does still happen to an extent now (all those people who work in nurseries and schools have to put their own children into childcare so they can look after ours) but at least that is only for a few hours a day.

The coming of the railways is another interesting aspect with parallels to today - all those people who had their houses compulsorily purchased for HS2 to be built.

I’m looking forward to reading on and finding out where all these characters fit in.

I don't know, Chessie, I think the ultra affluent may well still use (and discard) Filipino au pairs in much the same way...

You’re up and at it early, Piggy!

I loved this introductory part and thought it established things very well - plenty of great characters being introduced, lots of humour and a boo-hiss hate figure in the shape of Mr Dombey.

I was also fascinated by the passages concerning the emergent railways and the chaos wrought on the streetscape. So interesting to read something written about this pivotal moment in terms of a transport method and the way it changed so much about the world for everyone (including Dickens himself). There’s a whole book to be written just about Dickens’s relationship with the railways (I say that off the top of my head but tbh there almost certainly is one already).

Anyway, I found a great blog about the ‘Euston extension’ which is almost certainly what Dickens was thinking of in in this passage, as it took the London & Birmingham Railway through Camden (the intended terminus) and on to Euston, where the line ends today - it will take a while to appear but here’s a sketch of what the works looked like. Interestingly though, these works had actually happened a few years before Dickens wrote the book, so I’m wondering whether he was thinking back and drawing on his memories of what I’m sure he must have seen - he was living in Bloomsbury so not far from the railway line at all.

Yes, true!

I found the section where Polly Toodle was told she could not have contact with her family so sad! I am really enjoying Dickens use of language, it’s so beautiful.

Poor Dombey Jr has a lot to live up to, doesn't he? I'm guessing if we see the Toodle family again they'll be viewed as a 'parallel' to the Dombey family story, poverty vs affluence

Yes, Dickens does like his 'deserving poor' families.

He has a rag shop in A Christmas Carol,too. But this woman was even worse. Horrifically predatory. When you read enough Dickens, it seems it was commonplace for children to be snatched off the streets.

Really enjoyed the opening chapters. I thought the birth of little Paul and the abduction of Florence were the most gripping. And Polly Tootle/Richards was a lovely character. I missed the bit about the railways - will go back for a re-read!

Thanks for getting us started Piggy! Not sure I can add much to previous posters’ thoughts. I found this had a greater depth of feeling than some of Dickens earlier, more comic/episodic books. I felt genuinely sorry for Polly having to leave her own children, and for poor little unloved Florence. It also seemed that, although Dombey obviously prized his son, he was not that concerned with his welfare on a practical level - dithering on selecting a wet nurse when his son was newly born, then dismissing the only ‘mother’ the baby had ever known when he was just six months old.

Also felt the lack of Dickens’ usual likeable comic relief young man side character - there’s no Mark Tapley or Tom Pinch here. (What I wouldn’t give for a Dick Swiveller even…) But perhaps he’ll turn up later.

Yes, although Walter shows promise but maybe not for comedy. General loveliness.

I love it so far - I keep taking photos of paragraphs and sending them to people to read. I was so confused by the earthquake description, it didn’t seem to fit with the rest. And then the reveal that he was talking about the construction of the railway made me laugh, and his cynicism. (I have never read Dickens before so will maybe start to recognise this kind of thing.) It reminded me too of the chaos of Crossrail, I feel like London is very recognisable.

I’m sorry to lose Polly, I hope she reappears.

In my ignorance I was expecting a cast of thousands and to forget who’s who, but it’s so nicely paced, and the characters so rich, it’s not like that at all and just a lot of fun to read. You really feel like you are in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing.