This novelisation covers the first part of the Bronte story. The last bit requires a box of tissues, metaphorically speaking, especially when Anne dies (the story closes before Charlotte's marriage and I think Banks wrote a second novel to cover that). ( )

This is a fascinating novelization/biography of the four Bronte siblings, three of whom are responsible for literary masterpieces that still resonate to this day.

While it was a bit on the long side, the writing was never dull. I believe Lynne Reid Banks to have relied somewhat on speculation for some of the events, but she also roots her action in the real letters and documentation that exist for the Bronte family. I thus feel that I've been given a fair view of their personalities and lives.

Each person in the family comes across with a distinct tone--ambitious, passionate Charlotte; hermitlike, brilliant Emily; sweet, persevering Anne; and...Branwell...promising but weak. I was so pulled into the story of the three sisters and how their rich inner lives clashed with their narrow circumstances.
Though this book ends with the sad deaths of three of the siblings, I am looking forward to the sequel, which details how Charlotte pushes forward with her writing.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sapere Books for providing me with a free digital review copy of this new edition. ( )

‘’You know, Charlotte, I sometimes think - don’t laugh, will you?- that Emily’s strength comes from the moors. She’s like a tree, planted tree, and if she’s uprooted it won’t matter how tough her trunk is, she’ll wither and die.’’

I approached this book with mixed feelings of enthusiasm and apprehension. I have read quite a number of biographies on the Brontë family but I tend to avoid works of fiction based on their lives. With only a handful of exceptions, the writers tend to project their own values and perceptions to the sisters with no success. Especially apparent in the case of Emily Brontë, these women cannot become ‘’characters’’. It is impossible. A gifted writer is required for that, Sarah Perry, Daisy Johnson, Diane Setterfield. Lynne Reid Banks is hardly a writer, let alone a gifted one and this book was a frightful disappointment.

In a clumsy mixture of Biography and Historical Fiction, the writer almost turned the family into characters of the most mundane, dated (justifiable given the date the book was published) romance. Exhaustingly detailed in parts that hold little significance and naively simplistic when it had to be powerful and, possibly, thorough. The only part she seemed to get right was the unbreakable relationship between Emily and the mystical English moors. Even this vital characteristic is depicted in a highly exaggerated, dramatic manner. Charlotte takes the spotlight and thus, the narration becomes quite boring. Plain and simple. Not because Charlotte was a boring person, God forbid, but because she is portrayed in such a way.

There is very little focus on the sisters’ work - almost none on Branwell’s who seems to be there just to remind us of a George Best type of man (I love George Best, don’t mind me…) and even less attention on the process of conceiving and giving birth to their immortal creations. The fact that the writer chooses to suggest that every novel of theirs was almost autobiographical is ridiculous, laughable and inappropriate. More emphasis on Jane Eyre, very little on Wuthering Heights (I doubt the writer could understand its implications, themes and importance…) and Anne’s novels may not have been written at all… I feel that this book ‘’wanted’’ to become a Peeping Tom than a serious work of Biography and Fiction. It focused more on what she believed was the sisters’ social and sentimental issues rather than their work and was not interested in that.

In my opinion, the Author’s Note is offensive and derogatory towards the readers, the world of Literature and the Brontë family. Making fun of the family’s course shows little respect and a huge, absurd ego. The way I see it, this book is an extremely failed effort. A true disappointment. A sacrilege.

Many thanks to Sapere Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com ( )

When I first heard about this book several years ago, I thought, "Wow, a biographical novel about the Brontës--what a cool idea!" Though I enjoyed the book very much while reading it, I'm now convinced that the idea was a terrible one.

I'm upset because the author claimed to be "harnessed to the truth" while writing this book, but several events that are presented as facts are very unlikely to be true in any form. The most egregious one for me is the assertion that Branwell Brontë experienced something between a gang rape and an orgy with a group of poor Irish workmen while he was at Luddenden Foot. When I read this, my jaw dropped, but it didn't occur to me at first that it might not be true. But after a conversation, I did some research on this and a couple other surprising revelations in the book. And, among other things, [b:Gillian Barker|763144|The Brontes|Juliet Barker|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223636088s/763144.jpg|3360804] says these laborers didn't even exist at the time! Argh!

The frustrating thing is that this kind of embellishment was completely unnecessary--Branwell did plenty of scandalous, debauched things that are well-documented. So why risk your credibility as an author by going so far out on a limb? I believe that if you choose to write a biographical book without footnotes, you have a responsibility to be careful and honest. I don't think this author lived up to her responsibility. (Based on this experience, I also think it might never be a good idea to write a biographical book without footnotes.)

Essentially, I feel betrayed by the author, which counterbalances the joy I experienced while reading. ( )

...This vivid and unusual biography introduces the reader to a family of amazing talent whose works changed the entire future of the novel form.