Romancing Miss Brontë

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

For the life of me I cannot understand why I was so hesitant to read this novel in the historical fiction genre. Perhaps I was expecting more fiction than fact, more fluff than substance. What a pleasant surprise to discover that Romancing Miss Bronte was nothing like that at all.
Ms. Gael's prose is somewhat Austenesque although her subject matter is nowhere near Ms. Austen's well to do, charming, close-knit family with suitors stumbling over each other. This is the story of the family Bronte headed by a patriarch who is curate of the little Yorkshire town of Haworth and perhaps living through his own grief he pays little attention to his lonely, tragic brood who resort to show more creating their own imaginary worlds through stories and poetry. Though their brother, Branwell struggles with his own demons, the girls, Emily, Anne and Charlotte devise a plan to publish their works under pseudonyms. The rest is literary history which Ms. Gael relates with a well researched eye. Many a reader is sure to see the love that Ms. Gael holds for her subjects as it comes through in a tender and almost sorrowful and sympathetic manner while still being truthful.
I struggle giving this novel 4.5 stars when I know I should give 5, yet that would place it in the realm of Wolf Hall and perhaps it is not quite there, but so very, very close – as close as Charlotte was to a life of happiness and contentment. show less

I anticipated enjoying this book even though I did not really hope to learn anything new about Charlotte Bronte or her immediate family (most notably her sisters Emily and Anne and their “difficult” father, the Reverend Patrick Bronte). As an avid Bronte fan, I’ve read quite a few biographies on the Brontes, including what I consider to be the definitive work on the family “The Brontes” by Rebecca Fraser. I picked up this book primarily because I was intrigued on how the author would present Charlotte’s love life, as the title suggests, as the centerpiece of the action. First-time author Gael does not disappoint, competently covering Charlotte’s passionate feelings for the few men in her life outside her family: first her show more French professor, then her handsome London publisher and finally the man whose love she finally accepts, the curate Arthur Nicholls.

This book covers the last 10 years of Charlotte’s life when everything is just beginning to happen for her and her sisters. She’s written “Jane Eyre” and against all odds gotten it published to acclaim. She is swept off to London on what today we’d call a publicity tour where she gains a wider perspective on the world beyond the desolate Haworth and is presented with life options that challenge her to decide what it is, exactly, that she wants out of life. The well-known facts that round out Charlotte’s & her family’s life during this period are deftly handled and melded into an engrossing fiction that kept me turning the pages even though I knew how the action would end.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to find how moved I was by this debut novel that truly brought several members of this extraordinary literary family alive much more than some of the more detail-laden biographies I’ve read. I was especially impressed by how the author presented a full emotional portrait of both Emily Bronte and the stoic Arthur Nicholls. The author grants us more than a little insight as to why Emily was the way she was and would produce something as dark and passionate as “Wuthering Heights” as compared to her more demure sisters Charlotte & Anne. And when it comes to Arthur Nicholls, this is the first time I’ve read any book with him presented as something more than an empty shell of a devoted clergyman. Finally we get a realistic and sympathetic portrait of the full flesh and blood man who ends up marrying Charlotte near the end of her life. The author makes a convincing case for why Charlotte would end up choosing to marry Arthur Nicholls at this point in her life when, as a successful author, she had choices in life. For this revelation alone, I would recommend reading this book.

Based on her showing with this debut novel, I am really looking forward to see what author Juliet Gael does next. show less

Three quarters of the way through Romancing Miss Bronte, Juliet Gael writes, “He was quite simply a simple man in awe of creation, and that God had not graced him with a particular talent by which to interpret it all did not mean that it was any less wonderful to him.”
I don’t think there is a more appropriate description to capture my feelings while trying to convey what I feel about this book. It was simply amazing to me and I am certain that I lack the necessary talent to do this recommendation justice.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have a good foundation of the Bronte family with which to judge the accuracy of Gael’s story. I’ve read their books over the years (some long ago—some more recently), but know show more little about the family beyond that.

Romancing Miss Bronte is a mixture of fact and fiction. A love story and a biography rolled into one. My initial impression of Charlotte and her sisters has been completely altered after reading this story. Juliet Gael gives Charlotte a hidden sensitivity that forces me to consider a softer side to her harsh exterior. I’ve never had much love for her truthfully, given that she was quite unkind/unfair to my favorite author, Jane Austen. That she ever developed a serious relationship also surprised me in that I hadn’t given her any credit for allowing someone, outside of her close knit family, to get that close to her.

There is so much to glean about the family that I am unsure how much to give away. Simply put, you read and you learn, a lot.

Without the compelling quality of Gael’s writing, I don’t think I could ever have gotten so caught up in a book about the Brontes. I believe that speaks volumes to her skill as an author. This not a book to be passed up and I encourage everyone to get their hands on a copy! show less

3.5 stars, rounded up.

I confess I am a kind of stupid fan of the Brontes and tend to want to read anything that happens to have their names associated with it. So, when I saw this book on the shelf at my local library, I picked it up on a whim and brought it home. Not how I generally choose a book, but sometimes stepping away from the plan is fun. And, this was.

Juliet Gael makes a real effort to stick to the facts, where known, about Charlotte Bronte, which I always appreciate in an author writing about a historical figure. Where she embellishes, I sometimes think she may not have guessed correctly, but then her guess is as good as mine. I did enjoy the fictitious parts of the story, the love interest, and the idea that maybe Charlotte show more found some marital happiness at the end. After all, don’t we all hope the real lives of those we admire are better than we suppose?

While I like Charlotte very much, and I did enjoy reading Mrs. Gaskell’s account of her, which might not be one bit more accurate than this imagining except in those parts where Elizabeth Gaskell was actually present for an event, I confess that it is Emily who really captures my imagination, and she was not present enough in this novel to please me. It certainly makes me ache to think of Charlotte Bronte watching the deaths of all of her siblings and being left to cope alone with her cantankerous father.

Among the best books ever written are those penned by the Bronte sisters. That so much talent could exist in one family is amazing. That Branwell might have had the same richness of mind and imagination and wasted it is also sad. I have several other volumes on my TBR that deal with the Brontes and that I hope to get to this year. I am glad I stopped for this one now, though, because the impulse was justified and the timing just right. It was not too serious, nor too light, and much needed while I sat in a hospital room with my husband over the last several days. show less

Romancing Miss Brontë is a fictionalized account of the lives of the Brontë family, particularly during the period of time Arthur Nicholls worked for the patriarch, Patrick. Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell were living at the parsonage, all having suffered disappointments professionally and most of them heartbroken as well.

Gael used surviving letters and biographies of known friends and associates to map out the framework of their lives and to base herself in the flavor of their speech. She then weaves dialogue and scenery together to create living, breathing characters that feel true.

I was expecting some light, frothy chick-lit but that's not what I found at all. I've always had this notion in my head that Charlotte had a rather show more good life. She survived to adulthood, she was famous, she married. Certainly she had a "better" life than her siblings, right? This book destroyed that perception. It made me feel the pathos of Charlotte's life. One by one she lost her mother, all four sisters and her brother. Her father lost his sight (twice) and she took on the responsibility of running his household. She escaped briefly to the literary scene in London but suffered from social anxiety. When she finally, at the age of 38, decided to pursue a romance, her father railed against it - after all she had done for him! She stuck it out and married Arthur, went on a honeymoon tour and conceived a child but died before giving birth. It just makes me incredibly sad.

Of the whole book only this one line warmed my heart:


"Egads, man, she's Currer Bell. How do you write a love letter to Currer Bell? I should be quite terrified."


So true. Could you imagine trying to woo a woman like Charlotte Brontë (or say, Jane Austen)? A strong, opinionated, romantic woman who you admired greatly. A woman whose books you had read over and again when you were deprived of her company, just to feel as though you were in her presence.

I guess I got my dose of Chick-lit after all... show less

I must mention now: I'm not the kind of person who would be seen reading a book with "romancing" in the title. But for "Miss Brontë", I shall read! Anything for the Brontës. Other writers during the Brontës time were mainly concerned about money and marriage, but the Brontës were more more more. That is what I love about them. A lot of women of the day would have seen Arthur as a marriage opportunity the second they met him. But even after Arthur proposed, Charlotte remained unconvinced. At almost age forty Charlotte thought of herself as a stunted, spinsterish, poor parson's daughter. Knowing how rare it would be to ever receive another proposal, still she did not immediately accept. She wanted to marry for love and did not love show more Arthur... yet.

I was worried 'Romancing Miss Brontë' would take everything that happened within Charlotte's life, and make it simply about her marriage. It did not. The devastating deaths of the siblings occur about halfway through the book. I think this is the perfect amount of time for the relationship between Charlotte and Arthur to develop, while also letting the reader get to know Emily, Anne and Branwell, though I must admit I liked reading about the interactions between the siblings more, especially their walks along the moors. That simply may be due to the sort of reader I am. The closest (and only) thing I've read in the "romance" genre are the Brontë novels. For all the freedom women have in 2010, there is another sort of freedom women had in the 1840s. Women in those days could walk around any moorland they wanted to. These days, if there is anything resembling moorland in America, you would be hard pressed not to find 'private property' signs everywhere you looked (and risk getting shot if you ignore said signs). That, for me, is the ultimate "romance" in the time of the Brontës. Freedom has been gained but so much has been lost.

The Brontës mainly wrote about their own past experiences, but it was surprising to see how their books also eerily predicted their futures. Charlotte wrote of the Mr. Rochester fires in Jane Eyre long before her brother Branwell was saved from a fire by Anne and Emily. Arthur's personality reminded me of Jane Eyre's cousin, John Rivers, who discovers Jane near death on the moor, long before Arthur himself mentions the same comparison to Charlotte in 'Romancing Miss Brontë'. Sure, it is a charming and excellent bit of this book, but did Arthur really say this in real life? I'm always skeptical of historical fiction. I don't like things to be made up just to make a better plot about real people that once had their own integrity to protect, rather than a fictional character. After all, Charlotte can not defend herself now. I was wary that a novel about the Brontës could sensationalize their lives (which is funny, seeing as how if anyone can find a fault with the Brontës, it is their penchant for gothic drama...but I happen to love that sort of thing.) Even just writing something that Charlotte would have never really said would bother me. I'm not very knowledgeable about the Brontës, but I don't believe 'Romancing Miss Brontë' takes any liberties: I believe Gael's writing sticks close to the truth. This book is perfect if you'd like to know more about the Brontës (especially if you'd rather read about them in novel form, rather than a biography). It is also a great read if you already know a ton about the them. If you are a fan of anything Brontë, read this. If you want to get a better understanding of why the Brontës were so loved, in their time and ours, read this. The Brontës are amazing. You could probably write anything about them and I would be pleased that they are being remembered.

Sometimes I think of the possibilities of a life. What if Anne, Emily and Charlotte had died the same age as their sisters, Maria and Elizabeth? It makes me sad to wonder what would have happened to literature if the world did not have their books. What amazing novels are we missing that Maria and Elizabeth could have written? And what if Anne, Emily and Charlotte had lived longer? What else may they have written? Imagine if they knew their books were still being read 150 years later! It seems as though the Brontës are fiction themselves, so it would make sense to write a first novel about them. Juliet Gael does a lovely job of it. I'm looking forward to seeing what Gael delivers next. Gael's prose alone tells me I'd be interested in her next book, even if it isn't about a topic as captivating as the Brontës. show less

Romancing Miss Bronte is technically a novel, but is based primarily in fact in its re-imagining of the domestic lives of the Bronte sisters, with an emphasis on Charlotte, the longest surviving of the sisters. Gael’s text meticulously details the complexities of relationships between writers, but also sisters, as they pursue publication of their poetry and novels. Having lived somber lives rife with loss, Romancing Miss Bronte is passionate yet heartrendingly honest, while offering unique insight into the intricacies of crafting literature, particularly as a woman in the 19th century. The title suggests a light, heavily romanticized version of the truth; however, Gael remains true to the stark realities of the Bronte family with a show more well-researched and inspired account. show less