I've been reading Claire Tomalin's book on Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens.  For those of you who are as ignorant as I was about this side of the Dickens story, in 1858 the author left his wife Catherine, taking nine of his ten children, including quite young ones. (His household was managed by Catherine's sister Georgina.) Tomalin traces out the extraordinary story of Dickens' involvement with a woman 25 years younger than he, Nelly Ternan. Nelly came from an acting family, and Dickens had produced and taken part in some theatrical events with her, her sisters and her mother. But he did not set up with her - although several of…