The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte

I absolutely loved this book! Syrie James manages to capture the Bronte sisters in a beautiful and delightful way. I learned so much about each of them and her family. We also learn where she got all her ideas from for her novels. This has opened up Jane Eyre to me and Wuthering Heights more than I ever thought possible. I have never been a big fan of Wuthering Heights, but I got some insight into Emily Bronte in this novel about her motivations for writing this. Charlotte Bronte's life had quite a bit of romance! I was so sad to realize that she died only nine months after marrying the love of her life. Syrie James spins her story for us in a perfectly knit blankie and I was warm and comfy reading it! (I know, cheese factor is super high with this sentence!!!)

I had been looking forward to reading "The Diaries of Charlotte Bronte", since I finished reading Syrie James' first novel about Jane Austen. I had questioned, in my mind, can she do this again? Can Ms. James pull the reader into a fictional diary of Charlotte Bronte, and make it feel as real as she did with Jane Austen. I am happy to say that yes, she did. I think it is an amazing accomplishment to write with such believability of a major writer in English Literature, that one forgets that Charlotte never left this 'diary" behind. It is not necessary that a reader have an in depth knowledge of the Bronte family because Ms. James lets the family unfold before you, through the eyes of Charlotte. They were all highly literate and all talented writers. One relives the highs and lows of Charlotte's struggle with fame and fortune, being published only under a nom de plume, her falling in love with the curate against the disapproval of her father, her best friend, and the constrained society she lived in. This is a fantastic book, and not to be missed.

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte will rivet your attention from the first page to the last. The book is based on fact and tells of the lives of not only Charlotte, but her siblings and her widowed minister father. The reader is transported to another time -a time fraught with peril in the face of disease which took the lives of far too many people, children in particular. A time when women had no rights, were discouraged from being educated (fortunately the Bronte's had a father who was more far sighted than most) and who owned no property. Only husbands and brothers inherited property in England at that time. This book is extremely well written - I had to remind myself that it wasn't actually Charlotte who had written this diary. In the back of the book are poems and stories written by the Bronte sisters. I was sad then I came to the end of the last page. I guarantee if you love historical novels, you will love this book. I'd take it out of the library and then decided to buy a copy as I wanted it to keep and reread. Enjoy - I know you will!

Syrie James is a national treasure! I have just finished reading "The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë" and I am better for it. Her writing is deliciously addictive, with words that can stroke as well as burn. I could almost smell the reek of Branwell's drunken presence when he appeared on her pages. I was already a great fan of the Brontës, having been to Haworth many years ago. What touched me most about the book though, was the way she handled Charlotte's grief over her losses. It was so heartfelt and brought tears to my eyes. I thank Syrie for her insights, her clarity, and her wonderful art. Charlotte would most certainly have embraced Ms. James. Vicki Csakany

While we know that Charlotte Bronte did not leave behind a secret diary, Syrie James' book offers a delightful portrait of this groundbreaking nineteenth century author. The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte offers a compelling story that focuses on the lives of the Bronte sisters as told by Charlotte. If you haven't heard of the Bronte's, here is your opportunity to learn about this amazing family that included three respected female authors, and one not so respected brother. The household was led by their father, Patrick Bronte, a clergyman in rural Haworth, England. Almost out of the womb, the three surviving sisters were destined to become authors, writing journals and stories from an extraordinarily early age into adolescence. In 1846, the sisters jointly issued a poetry collection that was published using pseudonyms, both to maintain their privacy and to hide their true gender. Though this first publication hardly saw the light of day, the three sisters continued their writing pursuits, finally earning positive literary criticism. Emily Bronte earned recognition with her torrid tale, Wurthering Heights, a book that became the talk of London; while Charlotte's Jane Eyre, a story of a plain, docile school teacher, caught the attention and imagination of the reading public. The least successful of the novels was Anne's radical story, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall which depicted a woman who left her alcoholic husband - a farfetched theme for the time. It is with this backdrop that James recreates Charlotte's life: her dreadful childhood experience at a parsonage, followed by her time at Roe Head, a school where she wrote her first novella, to the death of her siblings, and finally back to the marriage proposal and her untimely death. A critical juncture in the story comes when Charlotte assumes a teaching post in Brussels and falls in love with the head of the school, Constantin Heger. While it is unclear what actually transpired with Mr. Heger, we do know that Charlotte's relationship to Mrs. Heger was quite strained. In telling Charlotte's story, James makes the persuasive argument that all Charlotte's publications, but particularly Jane Eyre, were drawn directly from events in Charlotte's life. When Charlotte died, Ms. Gaskill, a feminist writer of some renown, and a friend of the Bronte's, was persuaded to write a biography of Charlotte. In deference to the time, it was a somewhat sanitized version of events, especially relating to Charlotte's period in Brussels. The biography was also later criticized by reviewers for Ms. Gaskill's reliance on information from Charlotte's best friend, Ellen Nussey, a fellow "spinster," who felt abandoned when Charlotte's prospects for marriage became a reality. With all the correspondence that abounds, Ms. James has done an excellent job of culling through the research and offering us another look at this fascinating family. James makes sense of the events of Charlotte's life, tells a story that capture