Book description
The story of the tragic Bronte family is familiar to everyone: we all
know about the half-mad, repressive father, the drunken, drug-addicted
wastrel of a brother, wild romantic Emily, unrequited Anne and 'poor
Charlotte'. Or do we? These stereotypes of the popular imagination are
precisely that - imaginary - created by amateur biographers from Mrs
Gaskell onwards who were primarily novelists, and were attracted by the
tale of an apparently doomed family of genius. 'As a work of scholarship
it is briliant . . . For those with a passion for the Brontes, or for
Victoriana, or for sheer wealth of historical minutiae, it is a
stupendous read' INDPENDENT ON SUNDAY Juliet Barker is both a
distinguished biographer and a medievalist and scholar.
