Charles Dickens‘ love life has always been the subject of fascination.

Despite leaving his wife and falling for the teenage Ellen Ternan, his sex life appears to have been tame.

It is believed he was still a virgin when he married Catherine at the age of 24.

Before then, he had a four-year infatuation with Maria Beadnell, who he was madly in love with.

His future wife Catherine was the daughter of his boss, George Hogarth, Dicken’s editor on the evening edition of the Morning Chronicle.

But he developed an extraordinary relationship with her sister Mary, who was just 14 when they first met. She became the love of his life and the inspiration behind one of his famous characters.

They both adored each other throughout his relationship with Catherine. However, the famous author was left devastated after she died from a fever when he was just 25.

He completely stopped working, for the first and only time in his life. Eventually, he resumed work on Oliver Twist.

Oliver’s teenage aunt Rose Maylie was modelled on Mary and he found that he was unable to kill her off.

After having ten children with Catherine, Dickens found his marriage intolerable and left her for 18-year-old Ellen Ternan.

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