Dickens opposed the idea that the downward path of a ‘fallen woman’ was inevitable and irreversible. Instead he believed in the possibility of reform. In the letter, Dickens touches on his hopes for his own charitable ‘house for fallen women’.
To accompany this new acquisition, the Curator of our recent exhibition The Fallen Woman returns to the Museum to discuss The Fallen Woman: Then and Now with Jenny Earle, Programme Director at the Prison Reform Trust.