Hello everyone. I would like to know what "her Dickensian manor" means in the following sentences:
Mummy, Madge, and I were gathered around the worn, nicked tea table at Ashfield, a site shot through with memories. Madge had pushed for us to spend Christmas at her Dickensian manor, and in the past, the notion of retreating to Abney Hall, with its vast halls, endless nooks, and unexpected staircases and its decor of burnished woodwork and dusty tapestries, would have enticed. After all, Mummy and I had spent many wondrous holidays there with the Watts family after Papa died. But Archie felt uncomfortable at Abney, even though Madge’s husband and the entirety of the Watts family offered him nothing but an open-armed welcome, especially my dear friend Nan with whom I’d reconnected.
- Marie Benedict, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, Part One, Chapter Twenty-Three
This is a mystery novel published in the United States in 2020. The story is mainly set at the present time in 1926, when Agatha Christie suddenly went missing for eleven days, but also goes back to the past time in the 1910's. In this scene, set in 1921, the narrator Agatha is at her mother's house Ashfield over Christmas to meet her older sister Madge. And she is recollecting how they had come to gather at Ashfield instead of Madge's house called Abney Hall, because Agatha's husband Archie felt uncomfortable at Abney Hall, feeling that his background was starkly contrasted with the wealth of the Abney Hall.
In this part, I wonder what "her Dickensian manor" would mean.
I learned in the dictionary that "Dickensian" can mean "the style in the novels of Charles Dickens, especially regarding the squalid and poor living conditions," but this is "Dickensian manor," so I wonder what "Dickensian" here would mean.
My guess is that, the point here might be the stark contrast between wealth and poverty, so "Dickensian" here could mean "extremely wealthy, as contrasted with the poor living conditions in the Dickensian novels," but I am not sure...
I would very much appreciate your help.
Mummy, Madge, and I were gathered around the worn, nicked tea table at Ashfield, a site shot through with memories. Madge had pushed for us to spend Christmas at her Dickensian manor, and in the past, the notion of retreating to Abney Hall, with its vast halls, endless nooks, and unexpected staircases and its decor of burnished woodwork and dusty tapestries, would have enticed. After all, Mummy and I had spent many wondrous holidays there with the Watts family after Papa died. But Archie felt uncomfortable at Abney, even though Madge’s husband and the entirety of the Watts family offered him nothing but an open-armed welcome, especially my dear friend Nan with whom I’d reconnected.
- Marie Benedict, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, Part One, Chapter Twenty-Three
This is a mystery novel published in the United States in 2020. The story is mainly set at the present time in 1926, when Agatha Christie suddenly went missing for eleven days, but also goes back to the past time in the 1910's. In this scene, set in 1921, the narrator Agatha is at her mother's house Ashfield over Christmas to meet her older sister Madge. And she is recollecting how they had come to gather at Ashfield instead of Madge's house called Abney Hall, because Agatha's husband Archie felt uncomfortable at Abney Hall, feeling that his background was starkly contrasted with the wealth of the Abney Hall.
In this part, I wonder what "her Dickensian manor" would mean.
I learned in the dictionary that "Dickensian" can mean "the style in the novels of Charles Dickens, especially regarding the squalid and poor living conditions," but this is "Dickensian manor," so I wonder what "Dickensian" here would mean.
My guess is that, the point here might be the stark contrast between wealth and poverty, so "Dickensian" here could mean "extremely wealthy, as contrasted with the poor living conditions in the Dickensian novels," but I am not sure...
I would very much appreciate your help.
