Product Description
This Halcyon Classics ebook contain three popular works by the Brontë family of writers: WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Brontë, JANE EYRE by Charlotte Brontë, and AGNES GREY by Anne Brontë.

This book is DRM free and includes an active table of contents for easy navigation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Brontes
I've just re-read Emily's and Charlotte's books for the umpteenth times.Sweet, summer reading.I'm about to embark on Anne's, which I've never read.Thank you for putting them in Kindle form. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Now in paperback, the March 2008 Book Sense Pick by beloved author Laura Joh Rowland

Laura Joh Rowland's samurai detective novels have enthralled tens of thousands of readers. Now the author turns her gifts for historical fiction to Victorian England and the famous and fascinating Bront‘ family with this critically acclaimed new thriller.

Upon learning that she has been falsely accused of plagiarism, the normally mild-mannered Charlotte Bront‘ sets off for London to clear her name. But when she unintentionally witnesses a murder, Charlotte finds herself embroiled in a dangerous chain of events that forces her to confront demons from her past. With the clandestine aid of the other Bront‘ sisters, Emily and Anne, and of the suspiciously well-informed but irresistibly attractive brother of the victim, Charlotte works to unravel a deadly web of intrigue that threatens not only her own safety but the very fabric of the British Empire. Will Charlotte be able to stop a devious, invisible villain whose schemes threaten her life, her family, and her country? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

don't buy it
If you are a fan of Charlotte Bronte and admire her writing, don't bother to read this book. It is pedestrian. It starts out okay--you are willing enough to suspend your disbelief (and there is good local color and historical detail)--but then the plot becomes truly ludicrous, and the climax and denouement of the novel are so impossible to swallow that you feel you have wasted your time.
If you like improbable mystery action adventure stories, and don't care a fig about the Brontes' real/possible lives, then go ahead and read it, and good luck to you!

`How could I allow myself to be used as an instrument to shake the foundations of the world?'
In 1848, the sisters Charlotte and Anne Bronte travel from Haworth to London to resolve an issue with Charlotte's publisher George Smith.Charlotte has been accused of a breach of contract, and the issue can be best addressed in person.
In London, Charlotte witnesses the murder of a young woman named Isabel White whom she and Anne met during their trip to London.As no-one seems to be interested in finding Isabel's murderer, Charlotte is determined to discover why Isabel was murdered and to bring the offender to justice.

And thus begins a story which becomes more and more incredible with each page.It was difficult for me to imagine any of the Brontë sisters in the roles Ms Rowland has written for them, but this didn't stop me from reading to the end just to find out how the mystery was resolved.After all, the events were becoming more and more fantastical and I just had to know how it would end.

I did not enjoy this novel. In part this is because my view of the Brontës has developed over 40 years and I cannot imagine them in the roles described in this novel. Does that matter?Not really but the story itself didn't work for me.Can I recommend it to others?No, not unless you are prepared to read a strange mixture of very unlikely events peppered with some biographical accuracies and some historical improbabilities.

I am less attached to Charlotte Brontë than to her sisters but I am not at all comfortable with this faintly ridiculous portrayal of her.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

England - 1848
Rowland challenges the reclusive image of Charlotte Bronte by giving her fictional character an action filled life. This view might be based on Charlotte's letters, one of which states: "It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it."

In Rowland's story, Charlotte unintentionally witnesses the murder of a woman she has befriended on the train to London. Obsessed with a desire to obtain justice "for this stranger who had engaged my interest and my sympathy," her own life is threatened as she tangles with a secretive Chinese man who had turned to crime after his family was killed during the opium wars in China.

England's political and social conditions are portrayed critically and realistically. Turmoils surrounding the Chartist insurrection, violence in Ireland, and the threat to England of Continental revolutions are referenced. An important plot point is the widespread use of opium in China, and into brother Branwell's weakening system. Descriptions of the filth, smells, and generally appalling living conditions in industrial Haworth, and other larger industrial cities, speak to the country's worsening poverty. London's pandemonium is detailed as well as the city's lack of sanitation; Charlotte says it "tasted of cholera," with the Thames creating the "stench of decay."

The Bronte sisters' need to publish under male names and seek work as governesses or teachers, the only other occupations available to educated women, is revealed. Charlotte's visit to a boarding school run for poor girls evokes memories of her own grim schooling, which in the real author's life resulted in the death of two of her sisters.

The use of historical personalities as characters is problematic here. It is difficult to believe the sudden transformation of the Brontes into adventure seeking "spies," since initially they are presented as fearful women who preferred the solitude of their father's parsonage. And, one supposes that Rowland used Bronte''s novels and letters as a basis for the fictional Charlotte's sexual yearnings, directed at any man who came close to exciting her fantasies.

Short Author's Note at end.

Good summer read
The beautiful cover on the hardback is what drew my attention to the book; why the publisher changed it for the paperback, I don't know, as it is not as attractive and I would not have picked it out of the shelf of books if I hadn't been specifically searching for it.

What I did find, once purchasing and reading it, was an author who has been enthralled with Charlotte Bronte and her famous novel, "Jane Eyre", for most of her life. I liked the way she attempted to capture the history of the author while staying true to Ms. Bronte's personality and time.Seems like some historicals impose their own modern morality onto the character rather than staying true to the era.This is not just a mystery novel, but is also a romance. But how does an author capture the imagination of the modern reader, who tends to favor ever racier sexuality in their romances, versus remaining true to the morality of an earlier age?Ms. Rowland does this effectively, in my opinion, by portraying Charlotte's private romantic and adventurous desires versus her public personnae and desire to maintain her identity as a lady of her time.She is also both spunky and demure.

I gave this a "four star" review because it was good enough to encourage me to purchase the second novel in the series, rather than picking up a copy at the library or passing.However, I took a star off for the following reasons:1.Plot becomes a bit fantastic about 3/4 of the way through, but Ms. Rowland builds the momentum to this point so, although she stretched my credulity, it was still acceptable.2.The novel is well-paced until Charlotte spends "quality time" listening to the villain's history.This really slows the momentum and it does not pick up again till Charlotte (trying not to give away plot points) leaves his mansion.It is one of my big complaints about many mystery novels: instead of allowing the clues to explain the backstory, the villain "confesses" and ties up all of the plot points.

Charlotte's family members are vividly and distinctly characterized. I like how the author lets each of the Brontes have their moment of heroism.Charlotte's personality is further delineated by being contrasted with the impetuous Emily, who shies from strangers like a wild dog with a history of abuse, and the more staid Anne, her two sisters, and her wounded and self-destructive brother, Branwell. I enjoyed the villain's son, T'ing-nan, and wish he'd been given more story time.

I won't describe the plot, as another review has done so.I learned a lot about the Opium Wars between China and Great Britain, which was quite interesting.

Since the story is told from Charlotte's viewpoint, Ms. Rowland uses diary excerpts, that Charlotte later reads, to fill in story gaps, which I found a rather clever story device.

The romance (I won't say with who) is believeable and satisfying.

I look foward to seeing where Ms. Rowland takes her characters, but am hoping for a little less fantastic plot.

What if...
What if Charlotte Bronte, author of Jane Eyre, didn't live the quiet village life we all know.In this novel she travels to London to clear her name after falsely being accused of breaking her publishing contract.In London she is witness to a brutal murder.With the help of her sister and the attractive "brother" of the victim she works to unravel the web of intrigue.A very interesting take on the life of this beloved author. ... Read more

Product Description
Of late years an abundant shower of curates has fallen upon the north of England: they lie very thick on the hills; every parish has one or more of them; they are young enough to be very active, and ought to be doing a great deal of good. But not of late years are we about to speak; we are going back to the beginning of this century: late years -- present years are dusty, sunburned, hot, arid; we will evade the noon, forget it in siesta, pass the midday in slumber, and dream of dawn. If you think, from this prelude, that anything like a romance is preparing for you, reader, you never were more mistaken. Do you anticipate sentiment, and poetry, and reverie? Do you expect passion, and stimulus, and melodrama? Calm your expectations; reduce them to a lowly standard. Something real, cool and solid lies before you; something unromantic as Monday morning, when all who have work wake with the consciousness that they must rise and betake themselves thereto. It is not positively affirmed that you shall not have a taste of the exciting. . . . ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

A shame this novel isnt as well known as Jane Eyre
I read Jane Eyre when I was very young (thirteen). Loved it then, but didnt understand everything. I recently reread it (loved it more) and trough amazon found out Charlotte Bronte has written a lot more. Schocking for me. I inmediately started researching Charlotte Bronte on the web and found out she has written the novels Shirly, The Professor and Vilette. Now, after reading those as if my life depended on it I am left with a sense of longing for more. But helas, knowing there can be no more I cherrisch her works of art even more.

Shirley and Caroline are both heroins I can relate to. Shirley strong and independant (extravert), Caroline sweet and shy (introvert). In this novel both meet their respective others. Both being the opposite of themselves, but just what they need to find love and peace in mind and soul. Somehow this story appealed more to me becouse it could be real. It could be me ore you and nobody would suspect it was a story told from a novel, if you know what I mean. What I like furthermore are the few moments of romance that touches the soul. It is enough to fill you. In the end Carolines hero askes her a question wich she answers so simply, yet so wonderfull. It gave me chills.

I have to say that I enjoy the regency romances of contemporary writers too, but I am beginning to dislike the enormous amounts of explicit sex in them (especially Stephanie Laurens latest works). That is not what makes a romance.. a romance.

A Tale of Two Women
At first glance, "Shirley" by Charlotte Bronte can seem a daunting read; it is nearly 650 pages long.However, the sheer artistry of Charlotte Bronte's genius makes mostly short work of the story she weaves throughout the course of this novel.Much longer than her other works, it retains her thorough intelligence of the world around her, as she comments on the society and persuasions of the day.

To say that there is one or two main characters in "Shirley" is a slight understatement.While the novel does focus on the title character, a beautiful young rich heiress who soon finds herself with marriage proposals aplenty, it also spends much of its focus on the other main female of the book, Caroline Helstone, a shy and somewhat plain girl who fears the man she loves will fall in love with Shirley and leave her destitute.The narrative weaves between these two points of view, but also of the many other characters within the book, especially the object of Caroline's eye, Mr. Robert Moore.Moore is the owner of the local mill, hit upon hard times with the Napoleonic wars stopping his means of marketing.He must also contend with mobs and rioters, upset with the industrialization that has thrown many townspeople out of jobs.

In that regard, the narrative of "Shirley" is much darker than that of Charlotte Bronte's other works.Those readers who know something about the author's life will find certain comments to spring from her actual existence, especially perhaps the similarities between her and Caroline.However, others unfamiliar with her style may find her prose wearisome at times.Indeed, there are moments when she waxes eloquently far off plot for several pages before bringing the story back to its true direction.The reader must read through several wrapping-ups before the true wrap-up of the story occurs.

Yet these slight drawbacks do not taint the book, but add to the legend that is due Charlotte Bronte.She was a gifted writer, posing as a male in a man's world to get her books published."Shirley" is full of the knowledge of its timeperiod, showing the intelligence of its author regarding the world around her.Bronte is able to offer insight and provocation without being preachy or sentimental, cloaking vindication in the form of poetic prose.

Just "OK"
After reading Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Tenant of Wildfell Hall, I have to say Shirley is a disappointment.It was long, drawn out and at times very BORING.I really had to work to finish it; the others I breezed through because they were so good. I won't go into a dissertation about the book but it does not stand up to the other Bronte work.

Great Read!
An unpredictable plot, excellent character development, and many elements of wisdom from Charlotte Bronte.I greatly enjoyed this novel, much as I did Jane Eyre and Villette.In all honesty, this is a book that would not be for everyone.However, for those who greatly like Charlotte Bronte's works, it is a great read.

The Best of Bronte
I usually prefer Jane Austen over Charlotte Bronte, So I was surprised at how much I liked "Shirley". I definetly think that "Jane Eyre" and "Villette" are given undue credit, while "Shirley" is underrated. Though "Shirley" was a strange choice for a title, because the main character is Caroline. This was a perfect book with just the right amount of romance, tragedy, and happy endings. ... Read more

Product Description
Easy to navigate Kindle version of Charlotte Brontë published novels (Jane Eyre, The Professor, Shirley, and Villette). ... Read more

Product Description
"Reader, I married him."
A manuscript is discovered purporting to be the work of CharlotteBronte.The manuscript, both remarkable and surprising, offers adarker, alternative ending to the story of Jane and Mr. Rochester inthe classic Jane Eyre.

"Reader, this is a very different picture of my marriage from thatwhich you were presented with in what I would call my "romantic"version.Reality, however, does not often conicide with romance.Iwill remind you: "When his first born was put into his arms, he couldsee that the boy had inherited his own eyes as they once were--large,brilliant, and black" Well, events did not quite happen like that."

Freed from the constraints of Victorian modesty and subservience,D.M. Thomas' modern "Jane Eyre" is sexually and politicallyenlightened, but also troubled and sometimes cruel.Jane's damagedpersonality resonates at the center of this haunting book.

D.M. Thomas uses the basic elements of Jane Eyre to tease the tangleof Victorian melodrama into a new form.By transporting the action tomodern day Martinique, he examines changing patterns of slavery andcolonialism.Pursuing the unforgettable characters ofJane andRochester through time, D.M. Thomas brings them into focus for themodern reader as their sexual and moral actions are starkly andunflinchingly exposed in this deeply entertaining work of imaginativebrilliance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Dumb
This was the dumbest book I have read in a long time. It claims to be the final journey of Jane Eyre, HA! A great deal of the book recalls the sexual exploits of a women, Miranda, on her trip to Martinique and continues with Jane's awful sex life with Mr. Rochester. Mr. Rochester later dies, leaving Jane still a virgin and Jane doesn't even know it! Jane goes to Martinique also and fulfills her fantasies with Mr. Rochester's black son. Jane was never this stupid. If you like Jane or classic literature don't read this book. ... Read more

Product Description
Agnes Grey
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Jane Eyre
The Professor
Villette
Wuthering Heights
Poems By Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell ... Read more

Product Description
This volume covers the period from 1852 until Charlotte Brontës tragically early death in March 1855. We read of her long struggle to complete Villette, and her indignation when Harriet Martineau finds in it evidence that her mind is "full of the subject of one passion-love." Complete texts of many letters to Mrs. Gaskell illuminate Charlotte's friendship with the fellow-novelist who was to be her biographer. Subsequent letters touchingly reveal her love for her husband, her "tenderest nurse" during her last illness. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Life of Charlotte Bronte - Volume 2 by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
********************************************************** We are pleased to offer thousands of books for the Kindle, including thousands of hard-to-find literature and classic fiction books.
Click on our Editor Name (eBook-Ventures) next to the book title above to view all of the titles that are currently available. **********************************************************
... Read more

Product Description
This volume includes the early writings of Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen. Austen's work includes "Frederic and Elfrida", "Edgar and Emma" and "Amelia Webster" while Bronte's includes "Origins of Angria", "The History of the Year", "Two Romantic Tales" and "The Rivals". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Juvenilia of Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte
This was purchased as a gift. I am a lover of the classics, so it was wonderful to be able to enjoy getting a book that dove a little more into the background of the classic authors in their youths.

Bad news for Jane Austen fans
Jane Austen is pretty surely damaged by this comparison : much as English novels are by comparison with French.
It would appear that Charlotte Brontë exceeds Jane Austen both in ability and sensibilities even from an early age.
The comparison of style in not in Austen's favor.Charlotte's poetry is as superior as her imagination
and characterizations.
She makes Austen's results appear more comical than realistic: cut out characterizations.
The emotional and lyrical expression of Brontë themes show a great depth of feeling
and understanding of human nature lacking in Austen.

Six of wonderful, half a dozen of dull
The two parts of this book differ greatly in reader appeal. While packaging the juvenilia of two loved women authors together seems like a good idea, I think the actual works are not particularly compatible. JaneAusten fans will love the sprightly, unrestrained wit of her juvenilia;'Love and Freindship' in particular is a delightful romp, wickedlysatirising the 'novels of sensibility' popular at the time. In contrast,the Bronte stories, which all form part of a series set in a fantasy worldcreated by Charlotte together with her brother Branwell, are obscure andturgid. No doubt this peek at her early writing would be invaluable to aBronte scholar, but the average reader is likely to lose interest.Particularly in contrast to Austen's lightness and ease of touch, theBronte works seem clumsy and confusing. Still, the volume is worth buyingonly for the section on Austen, which is as far as I can tell fairlycomplete and an absolute must-read for any Austen fan. ... Read more

Product Description
Jane Eyre ranks as one of the greatest and most popular works of English fiction. Although Charlotte Brontë's heroine is outwardly plain, she possesses an indomitable spirit, and great courage. Forced to battle against the exigencies of a cruel guardian, a harsh employer and a rigid social order which circumscribes her life when she becomes governess to the daughter of the mysterious, sardonic Mr Rochester.
Villette is based on Charlotte Brontë's personal experience as a teacher in Brussels. It is a moving tale of repressed feelings and cruel circumstances borne with heroic fortitude. Rising above the confinement of a rigid social order, it is also a story of a woman's right to love and be loved.
Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë's wild, passionate tale of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine's father. After Mr Earnshaw's death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine's brother Hindley and, wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, he leaves Wuthering heights. When he returns years later as a wealthy man, he proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries.
Agnes Grey, Ann Brontë's deeply personal novel, is a trenchant expose of the frequently isolated, intellectually stagnant and emotionally starved conditions under which many governesses worked in the mid-nineteenth century.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall shows Ann Brontë's bold, naturalistic and passionate style. It is a powerful and sometimes violent novel of expectation, love, oppression, sin and betrayal. It portrays the disintegration of the marriage of Helen Huntingdon, the mysterious 'tenant' of the title, and her dissolute, alcoholic husband. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Long time to arrive
This book, while an excellent read, and in good condition, took well over 3 weeks to arrive.That is just too long.

Great bang for your buck!
What a great value, and a wonderful way to rediscover some old favorites, and perhaps to find some new ones, along with comparing the different writing styles of the Bronte sisters.

One thing in this printing is you will not find the endless footnotes that you would in some of the other printings available now. I don't feel I missed out on anything, but if you feel you need to understand every word and nuance you might want to get a different version of the book(s).

Jane Eyre -- which I enjoyed much more the second time around. It's always good to take time to reread those required books from school once you've obtained some years and maturity. This is a lovely and somewhat autobiographical tale of Jane Eyre, orphaned and raised by self-centered and uncaring relatives until they send her off to school. Eventually she is hired as a governess to a young girl and meets the girl's guardian Mr. Rochester, and of course they fall in love and plan to marry. But, there is a mystery about the house that once it is discovered destroys the wedding plans.

A lovely tale, and Bronte has such a wonderful prose that makes you want to slow down and savor it and the story like a fine red wine or chocolate. Highly highly recommended, one that should be taken off the shelf and reread every couple of years or so. Five stars.

Wuthering Heights -- The dark and brooding tale of Cathy & Heathcliff. What a great experience to finally reread this classic as an adult. Emily Bronte depicts a very gothic and depressing story of two star-crossed (but not terribly likeable) lovers, Cathy & Heathcliff, and the love between them that transcended the grave. Added to that a wonderful depiction of the dark English moors and the local characters with their strange dialects. This was also told in a very unusual style, like a tale within a tale within a tale, adding more layers and perspectives to the story.

How unfortunate that one's upbringing can so affect a person that their grief and bitterness turn what could have been a fine young man into such a hateful and vengeful person as Heathcliff became. And fortunate that Cathy's daughter and Hareton could overcome their dark upbringing to bring a happier light onto the dark moors of England.

It's one book you have to read at least twice in your life -- of course in school as required reading and then again as an adult to add that perspective of age and experience in life so that one can more fully appreciate a such a classic tale. Four stars.

Villette -- another semi-autobiographical tale from Charlotte Bronte, based upon her time spent teaching in Belgium. This is not a novel of page turning excitement, but a lovely tale of one woman's battle to maintain her independence. It's very interesting how the author brings characters in and out of her tale, and ties them all together in the end. Along with that, Bronte's gorgeous prose and all those large words that make you want to go running for the dictionary.

A lovely tale, but this one had much more french than Jane Eyre and I would have appreciated some footnotes to interpret those phrases to enjoy the tale more. Five stars.

Anges Grey -- This was a simple, albeit enjoyable tale of Agnes Grey, a younger daughter who seeks her way in the world employed as a governess. I understand this tale is based upon Ms. Bronte's own experiences and brings to light the snobbery of the upper class along with the often degrading way that the servants are treated by the same.

The first family literally has the children from h***, the second family being not quite as abusive, but still treat the servants as second class people. The young Misses Murray and self centered and thoughtless, particularly the elder (who gets what she deserves in the end).

It's been interesting to compare the sisters' writing styles. Anne's is much closer to Chartlotte's, with the gorgeous flowing prose, but not quite so littered with the large words and the smattering of french.

Well worth your time checking out for a pleasant, short read. Four stars

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall -- This is a very different novel from the other of Anne Bronte's that I've read, Agnes Grey. The story is told mostly from the first person viewpoint of Gilbert Markham as he and his fellow villagers meet the mysterious new tenant of Wildfell Hall, the widowed Mrs. Graham, who has a bit of a mystery about her and her young son.

As feelings grow between the two main characters, the story is shifted to the viewpoint of Mrs. Graham as retold through a diary she wrote, and about her life married to an abusive, unfaithful alcoholic, and her efforts finally to extricate herself from the marriage.

An interesting tale, and I give the author marks for tackling what in her time would have been a most controversial topic (women just did not leave their husbands, no matter what the reason). Some of the melodrama is more than a tad bit over the top, Helen was just too pure and good natured, and having a woman writer write in the first person viewpoint of a man was a bit of a stretch for me. Gilbert was at times too emotional in a womanly sort of way -- I mean throwing himself down on the wet ground and having a good cry over a broken heart was way over the top for me. He was also a bit too brutish and rough at times for my taste, and not always very likeable, but that is the author's choice as to how she wrote her characters.

Other than those quibbles it was a very entertaining read and some very thought provoking topics to take with you when finished with the book.Four stars.
... Read more

Product Description
The hero of Charlotte Brontë's first novel escapes a dreary clerkship in industrial Yorkshire by taking a job as a teacher in Belgium. There, however, his entanglement with the sensuous but manipulative Zoraïde Reuter, complicates his affections for a penniless girl who is both teacher and pupil in Reuter's school.Also included in this edition is Emma, Charlotte Brontë's last, unfinished novel.Both works are drawn from the original Clarendon texts. ... Read more

Product Description
Using fiction to explore further his investigation into the Brontes' lives, noted true crime author James Tully creates a murder mystery darker than anything produced by their imaginations and reveals a hidden side to their literary myth. Told through the Parsonage maid, Martha Brown, The Crimes of Charlotte Bronte penetrates the claustrophobic world where the Bronte sisters wrote their stories of tumultuous passions and twisted love. Were their tragically early deaths merely the result of illness, or are there telltale clues of poisoning in their correspondence and the doctors' reports? What was Branwell's true role in the writing of Wuthering Heights? Why are Charlotte's letters about her sisters' deaths so strangely inconsistent with all the other facts we have? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Fabulous!
I really loved this book. True or not, it was a highly entertaining read, and I'm happy I purchased it.

Hmmm
Although I am a lover of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights and Anne Bronte's The Tenent of WildFell Hall, it still did not put me off to this book.Interesting as this read was, I was/am not sure how much to take serious of Mr. Tully's conclusions.The moral of this maybe/maybe not story is Don't Piss Off the Help!

I liked it
I thought this book was great. Yes, it is a novel but a lot of the book is true. I looked it up on line. It is told by the lover of Charlotte's husband. According to the book he killed the brother then the two sisters then Charlotte. Took all of the money & his lover & fled to Ireland. He poisoned all of them.

Nicholls maybe, Charlotte no...
While I have no problem in accepting the possibility that the provably controlling Arthur Bell Nicholls was capable of murder, the idea that Charlotte would have in any way condoned it is simply ridiculous.

That is where this book and the late James Tully's driving theory falls down.

We know without a doubt that Nicholls decimated Charlotte's privacy to the extent that he monitored her letters to her dearest friend Ellen Nussey, and that he destroyed all of the literally hundreds of letters from Ellen to Charlotte, along with other writings, including journals etc. after her death. He even told Charlotte that Ellen must destroy all of the letters that Charlotte had sent to her. Thankfully, Ellen never did.

Whether he was jealous of the long-term romantic friendship that Charlotte and Ellen had always enjoyed, or whether darker motives stirred him, the man behaved abominably.

As with so many Bronte-related novels, Tully employs the tiresome mechanism of diary/journal entries, as did Emma Tennant in Heathcliff's Tale and Jill Jones did in Emily's Secret. While I am not hostile to either of those books, I much prefer Maureen Peters' technique of using real-time (as it was in Charlotte's actual life) dialogue as in her Charlotte Bronte novel Child of Fire, in which she also rightly paints Nicholls as a callous and evil opportunist, if not a murderer.

Tully may have it half right, in identifying Nicholls as a monster, but his suggestions that Charlotte was in any way responsible for the other deaths in her family, which has created so much understandable flak, simply don't make sense.

As Elaine Miller proved in her stunning, well-supported essay, Through All Changes and Through All Chances, (which includes many conclusive letter segments) the love of Charlotte's life was Ellen Nussey, not her manipulative husband of nine months, who got her to change her will in favor of him while she was essentially on her death bed.

In Ellen's own words... "She told me things she never told anyone else. I have hundreds of her letters and I had her heart."

An intriguing read, if you like mysteries
I picked this book up as a bargain, and thought, "heck, this could be interesting."I have read and studied most of the sisters' works, as well as a couple of biographies (including the Frasier tome).I enjoy a good mystery, too, and that is ultimately how I regard this book:A fairly decent mystery, but in some ways unsatisfactory.The storyline rushes through a lot of perhaps trivial information that may have been better to gloss over or condense somewhat.After all, as a work of fiction, does Tully need to specifically list all of Charlotte's travels?They do nothing to further the story along, and the reader is left feeling like they'd just read the "begats" out of the Bible.

The main character, Martha, is an unreliable narrator.Because she has a personal interest in the story, she cannot tell the story objectively; perhaps Tully meant this as a contrast to Emily Bronte's more authoritative narrator in Wuthering Heights.About halfway through the book, Martha realizes what is going on with the family deaths, but instead of being repelled by the murderer, she continues with her life as it is, and passively aids and abets him according to her own petty desires.Nicholls is not so compelling and Svengali-like as Tully would like to portray him, and as such, you simply cannot see what Martha finds all that fascinating about him, apart from a good roll in the hay.As a reader, I felt cheated.Up to that point, the story was actually quite interesting, but after Anne's death, the book drags with some rather dull, almost list-like repetition of travels and speculation.The end seems like a limp wringing of an old dishrag that's been over-used.Tully could have wrapped it up much more quickly and have spared the reader a rather dull hour.

One thing that bothered me as a reader was how nobody managed to get pregnant in this book.According to Tully, Nicholls an apparently rather lusty Lothario who was willing to perform in even the most inconvenient of locations.He was also either infertile, or they had better birth control in Haworth than we do with modern medicine today.How Martha managed to avoid pregnancy over a 20 year period is beyond me.Tully's provides no real answers for this in the story, and his modern lawyer narrator is surprisingly silent on the matter.

As someone who has studied literature and life of this period, the book falls far short.People did not behave then as they do now, and this particular book is very modern in feel.While Tully effectively conveys the bleak and lonely aspect of Haworth and how one can feel trapped there, he does not convey a feel for the times.And that, I think, is the most disappointing part of the book.There were times when I had a hard time differentiating between Martha and the lawyer's footnotes at the end of each chapter...the voices were too similar.The laywer's voice was decidedly modern, and when Tully switches back to Martha's voice, it is not all that different, or even all that feminine.Martha is actually quite unsympathetic, and even though Charlotte is portrayed as a harridan, it isn't strong enough to merit Martha's hatred and passive resistance.

Why did Tully present this book as fiction?I believe that he found enough interesting material to make a plausible story, but no smoking gun or incontrovertible fact to hold up in court.I think Tully feels that there are millions who would rise up in arms against him and beat him to death with his own books.As a reader of true crime, I found some of his theories interesting.Am I going to accept them and go on some crusade?No.But I might do a little reading on my own to refresh my memory regarding the lives of the Brontes and ponder whether Tully's ideas regarding them are arguable.

I might even share this book with a friend or two. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the second volume in the critically acclaimed Letters of Charlotte Brontë. During the important four years covered in this volume, Charlotte witnessed the success of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, but also endured the deaths of Branwell Brontë and Emily, followed by Anne's in May 1849. Haunted by the fear that she also would succumb, Charlotte found salvation in writing Shirley, published in October 1849, and comfort in her friendship and correspondence with Ellen Nussey, with her publishers--especially George Smith--with Mrs. Gaskell, and (for a time) Harriet Martineau. She may also have received a proposal of marriage from Smith, Edler's manager, James Taylor. This volume is fully annotated and introduced by eminent Brontë scholar Margaret Smith. ... Read more

Product Description
In this innovative and wide-ranging book, Byatt and the psychoanalyst Ignes Sodre bring their different sensibilities to bear on six novels they have read and loved: Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, Bronte's Villette, George Elliot's Daniel Deronda, Willa Cather's The Professor's House, Iris Murdoch's An Unofficial Rose, and Toni Morrison's Beloved. The results are nothing less than an education in the ways literature grips its readers and, at times, transforms their lives. Imagining Characters is indispensable, a work of criticism that returns us to the books it discusses with renewed respect and wonder. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Eavesdropping on Great Conversations
The happiest moments of a liberal arts education usually take place late in the evening in a dormitory lounge or in a local bistro over several cups of coffee.They're conversations, often between two similarly minded people, that explore a favorite subject.Browsing through Imagining Characters is like lingering in a seat at the next table.

The works selected are an English major's hit list of mainly nineteenth century women's novels.Byatt and Sodre bring their experience as a fiction writer and a clinical psychologist, respectively, to their understandings and develop complementary insights rather than rigorous debates.

This isn't everyone's cup of java.The reader who enjoys this volume probably relishes at least half of the novels discussed, smiles at being called a feminist, and prefers discussion to formal criticism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Best Brontë Biography by Far
"Please see my "The Hand of the Arch-Sinner: Two Angrian Chronicles of Branwell Brontë" review for a review of this book.

The last biography of the Brontes?
Regardless of one's opinions about Juliet Barker's impression of Charlotte, and the rest of the Brontes, one can argue neither with the credibility of the author nor with her incredible research.The author has lived within a few miles of Haworth her entire life; was librarian and curator at the Bronte Parsonage Museum for six years; and researched this book for 11 years before publishing.The biography is 830 pages long, with an additional 150 pages of notes, and 30 pages of index.I would recommend this to those who are already well acquainted with the Brontes. It won't change your own personal myth of the Brontes, but it will shed light on trivia that might help explain background, names, and places in the various Bronte novels.For example, Charlotte's pseudonym, Currer Bell, now makes sense, though I disagree with Juliet's suggestion.This is much more than a biography; Juliet Barker includes the politics of the time, origins of modern Christian religious offshoots, the labor movement (the Luddites), and even the architecture (for example, the Late Perpendicular movement).Barker's description of the English landscape is wonderful, if a bit stilted.(When one is as emotionally linked with Yorkshire as I am, it's hard not be judgmental on descriptions of that wonderful place.) This book was meant to be read by the fire, on a cold and dark winter night, preferably in Haworth, with a soul mate who appreciates Yorkshire and all it has to offer.

The Brontes: a definitive literary biography
I first read this book in 1995. I only recently bought my own copy.

In this book, Juliet Barker provides a feast of information about the lives, times and writings of the Brontes. She is not the first to traverse this territory, but I believe that she does it more comprehensively than anyone else.The book itself is both a delight to read as well as a wonderful reference.

My only (slight) quibble is the greater focus on Charlotte.Perhaps this is inevitable: Charlotte did outlive her siblings, and published more novels.

I am biased.I have been a fan of the Brontes (especially Emily and Anne) for over 40 years.

Highly recommended to all Bronte fans.


Jennifer Cameron-Smith


Please note: this review was first published on July 28 2006

Well constructed, moving
I finished this last week and really enjoyed it.It is a very absorbing biography of the Bronte family through their letters.Charlotte Bronte's life was just as dramatic as her novels, and in fact formed the basis for them.The epistolary format works very well, and allows a more personal view into their lives than a regular biography can.The focus is mostly on Charlotte as Anne and Emily didn't correspond with many people.

AND the kitchen sink....
That the Brontes were talented and have left an enduring legacy to the world of lituature is an unchallenged fact. That this book is the most exhaustive study of that family to date will probably also be undisputed. For anyone who has ever wanted to aquaint themselves with every cobblestone trod upon, every house lived in or visited, every sermon attended, every note written, every dress sewn - THIS is the book for you. In a book of 1000+ pages, the years in which the great Bronte lituature was produced is covered in a mere 125+ pages. Almost a footnote in a body of work of this size. Slightly less perhaps would have left us with much more
... Read more