FIVE WEEKS IN THE COUNTRY

The man who came to dinner.

In the spring of 1857, Hans Christian Andersen visited Charles Dickens and his family at Gad’s Hill, in the countryside of Kent. Invited for a brief stay, Andersen remained for five weeks, his presence intensifying tensions within the troubled household. Adding to the “unsettled atmosphere,” a devastating rumor swirled: A comet was on a collision course with Earth. Imagining the visit first from the collective point of view of Dickens’ nine children, then the novelist himself, then the Danish visitor, Prose creates a sensitive, multilayered portrait of loneliness, betrayal, and longing. The children, remarkably unhappy, feel unloved by their father, who seems always distant and distracted. Andersen—comically awkward and embarrassingly affectionate—exacerbates their “misery and strain,” making their “hard time even harder.” Dickens, who had invited Andersen in a moment of exuberance he now regrets, is irritated by his guest’s odd demeanor and intrusiveness. The visit has come at a low point in his life. He’s dissatisfied with a play he’s producing and the quality of his acting; he feels imprisoned within his family: “His children were the turnkeys” and his wife, Catherine, “the walls and iron bars.” Infatuated with a young actress—the latest of many romances—he resents coming home. Andersen, flattered to think the invitation had been motivated by admiration from an author he worships, tries mightily to ingratiate himself, but fails. Wishing he’d be asked to stay forever, to be embraced, at last, by a loving family, he leaves in tears. Prose handles her characters with sympathy, especially Andersen, whose neediness is palpable and whose ability to transform deep sadness into art is heroic. Although recounting the visit several times leads to some repetition, the result, nevertheless, is captivating.

A richly textured tale.