but dickens would turn his life upside down for it, leaving his wife, catherine, with whom he'd had tenwant to see her again, he barely -- he told his children not to see her. >> to protect his reputation, dickens denied the affair. >> yes, i can. >> the perception gets lopsided because we're all going, by the way, he treated his wife fine. but then he wrote, david copperfield, nicholas nickelby all these things. this amazing stuff anyone who engages the dickens' novel never reads. i feel it makes him human. totally human. >> he's the mother of your children, how could you be so trial. >> i shall always be grateful but i do not love her. she comprehends nothing. she sees nothing. >> as dickens' affair evened he wrote what he considered his best novel "great expectations". >> we promise the sum of 1,000 pounds. >> liz showed us the checks he received as payment. >> over 3,000 pounds which in -- talking about 1862. that's an awful lot of money. >> absolutely is. you can multiply that by at least 100 i'd say. for equivalent. >> i can't help thinking "great expectations" comes out of the an