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“A fine bit of detective work.” ★★★★★ Daily Telegraph
“Beautifully researched and vibrantly written.” Daily Express
“Exuberant, fast-paced and deeply moving biography of a remarkable woman.” Jane Austen’s Regency World
Enigmatic mother Maria Branwell gave us Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, the most gifted literary siblings the world has ever known… then vanished from history for 200 years. This groundbreaking biography reveals for the first time the gripping story of a lady of letters, passionate lover and mother of genius. Not the frail figure of Brontë myth but a strong and optimistic woman living through turbulent times.
Maria is brought out of the shadows and restored to her rightful place at the heart of the Brontë story. Her contribution to masterpieces penned by her daughters, including Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, can no longer be ignored. This book reveals the witty and educated woman who led an extraordinary life full of scandal and adventure, romance and writing. An educated Georgian gentlewoman and contemporary of Jane Austen, she was raised in a wealthy Cornish family amid Enlightenment thinking, religious revival, political turmoil, gothic stories and rampant smuggling.
Maria made a perilous journey across Regency England and found poor but charismatic Irish curate Patrick Brontë, her “dear saucy Pat”. Reader, she married him. Their world-changing love story produced a family like no other, riven by both genius and heartbreak, and Mrs Brontë had her own literary ambitions. Untimely death stalked Maria as it was to stalk all her brilliant children, but first there was her fascinating, forgotten life.
At long last, this is her story. |