An Unlikely Romance

Many of us read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights years ago.  In many ways they set the gold standard for romances, and for a century and a half, romance writers have followed the patterns set by Emily and Charlotte Bronte.  Some preferred the book Jane Eyre, and some preferred Wuthering Heights. 

Learning about the authors while I was young added interest to the novels.  How could two young women living in an isolated parsonage in the isolated town of Haworth, England write these romance novels?  How could they ever experience and know enough to write these books?  Evidently, that is what Juliet Gael, author of Romancing Miss Bronte wondered too, because she delves into their lives in her new novel. 

The first thing I can say about this book is that I learned a lot.  I had never known that Charlotte had married the young curate who came to assist in her father's parish.  I knew nothing about Arthur Nicholls, the man she eventually married.

Another thing I learned was about typhoid fever, and how it swept through parts of England destroying so many.  Charlotte lost two sisters to it, and two sisters to misuse and abuse at a school. 

Another thing I didn't know was about Charlotte's time in Brussels and her passionate attachment to a tutor who was married.  This attachment colored her life for a long time.  She placed total confidence and energy in this relationship, while the tutor considered her a student.  A very modern situation.

The author swept me into the story, so much ,that I could barely put the book down.  I did not expect this to happen.  I felt like I was living with Charlotte in Haworth.  Although some letters of Charlotte's had been burned, several friends had kept her letters and the author made good use of those to bring Charlotte and her family to life.

The main characters, Charlotte, Emily, Rev.Bronte, and Branwell were fully realized.  However, the person who sticks with me still is Charlotte's unwanted and unappreciated suitor, Arthur Nicholls, her father's curate.  His depth of feeling and understanding of Charlotte, and his patience, were almost unbelievable.  After reading the novel, I checked several historical sources to discover whether this depiction was accurate:  it was.

Indeed, this was a most unlikely romance, but he was a tenacious and perceptive suitor, and Charlotte came to love him, married him, and eventually knew the happiness she had only been able to imagine and write about.  He was indeed her Mr. Rochester.

If you want good holiday reading which will take you through every emotional imaginable, read Romancing Miss Bronte.