Untitled Morgan

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.

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

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.

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!

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