Customer Reviews

Charlotte and Emily: A Novel of the Brontė's

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are more novels about the Brontes than there are novels by the Brontes. But this is a worthy addition to the former group. Jude Morgan avoids the wild speculation of some Bronte fiction (Emily was a lesbian! Branwell seduced his male student!) but manages to reimagine some of the tropes so that Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne emerge as complex, believable individuals. (I found his depiction of Emily in particular refreshing.) Perhaps more important, you don't need to know anything about the Brontes or even to have read any of their works to enjoy this book.
The title of the book is misleading, by the way. It focuses on the entire Bronte family, not solely, or even primarily, on the two best-known members. The UK title is The Taste of Sorrow, which is perhaps a bit melodramatic but more in keeping with the tone of the writing.
Why didn't I give this book five stars? Because while Morgan's language is often dazzling, presenting numerous mini epiphanies, at times it's overly mannered, detracting rather than enhancing the story. That minor quibble, though, should not put you off Charlotte and Emily!

Having taught Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, I was enthusiastic about reading this impressive novel of the Brontes. It's the best book I've read this year.

The title can be deceiving. The story relates the hard lives of Patrick Bronte, his wife, five daughters and a single son, Branwell.

These characters are so very well drawn, the reader completely empathizes with their little victories and crushing tragedies. The author beautifully and cleverly ties in elements that arise in the published novels of the three literary sisters, Emily, Anne, and Charlotte. The metaphors the author employs are startingly different and yet superbly applicable.

The sense of place--removed, rustic, "wuthering"--provides the reader with the coldness and solitariness of the parsonage in which they lived. The setting to a great extent defines much of the character of the Brontes, some of whose lives become as irregular and bent as the trees and shrubs out on the moors.

As a teacher and as a writer Push Not the RiverI cannot recommend this book more highly.

James Conroyd Martin, Author of PUSH NOT THE RIVER & AGAINST A CRIMSON SKY

The book opens on the evening before their mother dies, just the first in many tragedies that will haunt their lives, causing them to live very much within their imagination. The two older sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, step into the mothering role only to be sent off to an awful school where they are overcome with illness and come home to die. This leaves Charlotte as the oldest child. The Bronte children grew up poor and as girls they had no dowry so they had to work as governesses and teachers to make their way in the world. The whole family, including the father, had pinned their hopes on Branwell to do something with his life and save the family, and it is pitiful to watch him waste his life away.

Writing was a way of escape for them all. When they were children they invented an imaginary kingdom which Branwell's wooden soldiers took part in and they wrote tiny on little scraps of paper which they sewed together into books. Even when away from home at school or working for other families, they would often continue writing these stories. Unfortunately they lived in a time when writing was seen as unimportant and for a woman to write a novel was considered nonsense at best. Morgan beautifully captures their love of the written word and how dedicated to it they were, even though they knew there was little chance of success from their writing.

This novel will surprise and delight you. It is beautifully written and even though the outcome is well known you'll still want to read to the final word to find out what happens. Morgan's writing draws you in and it brings the Bronte family to life. I highly recommend this novel.

Those who love the Bronte sisters love the beauty and creativity of their writting. Jude Morgan had captured the flights of fancy that swirlred in Charlotte and Emily's mind to create a book that lets you follow not only the events in Charlotte and Emily's lives, but also the way they interpreted them. From the dreary and stilting prospect of girls in their position-- daughters of a church curate of small means who had few choises in life, torn from their beloved home and family by deaths and a harsh school system, we follow the imagination that allowed them to survive and develop into the writters we love today. Although somtimes challenging to follow, Mr Morgan weaves a story seen though the eyes of the Bronte sisters that blends the facinating events of their lives with the imagination that saves their spirits. As the reader realizes that, at times, he does not know what is fact and what is fiction- one realizes that this is the very layering that forged the genius that is the Brontes.

This novel breathes life the lives of the three Bronte sisters whose masterpieces have stood the test of time. Emily, observant, who turned away from the world to live out her imagination; Anne, gentle who suffered the harshest perception life threw upon her and Charlotte, steadfast, brilliant and independent she longed for love and fame the hardest and had to learn about their prices.
Ever since finishing Jane Eyre for the first time I have become obsessed with the lives of the Bronte sisters and devour books on them whether they are fiction or non-fiction. I did really enjoy this book because even though it centers the most on Charlotte, because the most is known about her through the wonderful biography by Elizabeth Gaskell, I thought this book included the lives of all of the sisters and I was glad to read about Emily and Anne. Even though the title can be a bit misleading Anne is included. It seems there is never as much recognition with Anne as there is with the other sisters and I always enjoy it when a book includes her.
On the other hand, the only problem I had with this book was at times the transitions between the sisters and Branwell could be hard to follow and I never felt like I got a clear enough character description of any of the sisters. It is so hard for any author to really capture the lives of these elusive sisters the only real way to get an accurate picture of them is to read their masterpieces. Out of all of the fiction novels I have read about the lives of the Bronte sisters I have to admit that this is one of the better ones because I felt like the author really tried to create the bleakness and desperate atmosphere the sisters must have felt in their lives.

I loved this book; the characters came alive for me on the page and I didn't want to put this book down. It was fascinating to learn how the Bronte sisters' books came into being.

The Bronte sisters have come alive again with recent publishings of their works and books about them. I've read 6 books about or by the Bronte's. I recommend this book if you want some fictional history of these two spectacular writers of the 1800's. It is filled with interesting aspects of the times in which the Bronte's lived and wrote. This book very closely parallels Romancing Miss Bronte. The book is about the Bronte's as a family, the evolution of the sisters becoming writers, and the impact of women being published during the early 1800's. It is the story of the Bronte's life experiences which is essentially about the Bronte's. It clearly depicts some partially nonfiction about their father, brother, and how they factor in to the lives of the sisters, leading to the eventual marriage of Charlotte Bronte. It's a good read and hard to put down. Enjoy it.

In 1821 in Haworth, Yorkshire, Maria Bronte, mother of five and wife to a Vicar, dies. Her widower husband Patrick sends his oldest four daughters to boarding school, but Maria and Elizabeth come home to die from consumption. His son Branwell becomes an addict while his three other daughters (Charlotte, Emily, and Amy) use pseudonyms to become poets and eventually novelists even as they dote on their father and brother. By 1855, all five of Maria's offspring are dead none having reached the age of forty.

The key to this superb Bronte biographical fiction novel is, in spite of the title, the focus on all six siblings and their father with especially Amy and to a lesser degree Branwell getting equal treatment to their more famous siblings. Fans of the renowned authors (and their less famous siblings) will appreciate this fine Passion-filled homage to a first family of literature.

Harriet Klausner

Charlotte and Emily by Jude Morgan
Also known as "The Taste of Sorrow" in the UK
St. Martin's Press, 2009
373 pages
Historical fiction

Summary: A literary treatment of the lives of the Brontes with special focus on Charlotte as the longest lived.

Thoughts: I've been dying to read this book ever since I saw that Jude Morgan had published The Taste of Sorrow in the UK and I waited impatiently for it to arrive here but it finally has. I'm not a fan of the new title (there are THREE author sisters and I prefer Anne's writing to Emily's) and that family had a ton of sorrow making the original one appropriate.

Focusing on the plot I was so angry about treatment of Branwell versus the girls by their father; of course the boy is supposed to succeed while the girls are practically useless!! It just made me really angry how Branwell was petted and beloved while the girls were disposable. It was also devastating how Mr. Bronte outlived his wife, his sister-in-law, and all of his children.

I was most interested in the chapters which overlapped the period of Sheila Kohler's Becoming Jane Eyre (which I reviewed here) and it used the same technique of shifting perspectives in order to better understand their point of view.

Overall: 4/5. Fantastic from Morgan as always but not my favorite subject matter.

Cover: I like the covers and the font of the title.