Romancing Miss Bronte by Juliet Gael

With so many books out there about the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen (and their heroines), the reader might feel overwhelmed and find it hard to choose which book to read, as not every book revolving around the lives of these talented female writers is necessarily a good one. As a huge fan of the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen, I tend to check out nearly every book that deals with their lives and some of them catch my attention. Thus, I have read numerous books about these great authors. Some of them were fantastic, but some of them were a mere disappointment.

So when I heard about Romancing Miss Bronte by Juliet Gael, it immediately aroused my interest and I was looking forward to reading it. Luckily, I won a copy of the book on Library Thing and I was eager to find out if the book would live up to my expectations. And I must say that it nearly did. I have to say nearly, because it wasn’t perfect, but nonetheless, it was an enjoyable and pleasant read. The author has done a great job portraying the Bronte sisters in an authentic way and those who are familiar with the biography of Charlotte Bronte and with her works will notice that the author has attempted to stay true to the author’s voice. Nevertheless, I have some negative things to say about this novel. Since the book is called Romancing Miss Bronte and since I have read a synopsis of the book, I thought that the author would go more into this theme of romance. Instead, I was a little disappointed to find out that the romance was not the romance I expected. But here’s more on why I felt this way:

In real life, Charlotte married her father’s curate, Arthur Bell Nicholls, nine months before her death. She has known him for many years, and he has been in love with her the whole time, but Charlotte wasn’t really interested in him until she was left all alone with her father, after her siblings’ deaths.

(Note: I won’t elaborate on Charlotte Bronte’s biography, since I have already told you about her life in my review of Becoming Jane Eyre).

Part fiction, part biography, Romancing Miss Bronte imagines how love unexpectedly found Charlotte and shows the relationship between her and Arthur. However, as I said earlier, I expected more romance. I thought that the author would put more imagination into this subject. Instead, we only get brief glimpses here and there and witness various encounters between Charlotte and Arthur where they exchange a few words. Charlotte thinks of Arthur as a peculiar curate and gives him the cold shoulder most of the time. Although Arthur is present throughout the whole novel, it is not until the end of the book that romance comes into play.

The book concentrates more on the Bronte siblings and their relationship with each other. It captures the passions and hopes of these gifted siblings and it shows how they struggle to publish their works and make their dreams come true. The novel also focuses on Charlotte’s growing fame and her meetings with London’s high society (which by the way fail to feel the emptiness in her heart, left by the deaths of her beloved siblings). But I already knew all these things (having read so many books on the Bronte sisters), and thus I read on and on and waited for the romance to get into the game. At least, at the end of the book, I was rewarded and I quite enjoyed Arthur’s wooing and his soft side that finally won over Charlotte’s heart.

For those who haven’t read anything about the Brontes’ lives or aren’t familiar with their biographies, I would recommend this book, as it gives a detailed account of the main events that happened in Charlotte’s life. I would have probably enjoyed the book more, if I hadn’t already known about the Bronte sisters’ lives (and if there would have been more romance involved, because the title suggested it). But I’m afraid that I made this book sound bad now, which I assure you is not the case. It really wasn’t what I expected, but it was still a great novel, well written and very true to Charlotte Bronte. I just wish I had read this book before I knew anything about the Brontes; then I would have probably loved it. I hope my review was not all too confusing for you! If I were to rate Romancing Miss Bronte, I would give it three and a half stars out of five.