Charlotte Brontë had a life as seemingly dramatic as her heroine Jane Eyre. Turning her back on her tragic past, Charlotte reinvented herself as an acclaimed author, a mysterious celebrity, and a passionate lover. Doing so meant burning many bridges, but her sudden death left her friends and admirers with more questions than answers.
Tasked with telling the truth about Brontë’s life, her friend, the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell, uncovered secrets of illicit love, family discord, and professional rivalries more incredible than any fiction. The result, a tell-all biography, was so scandalous it was banned and rewritten twice in six months—but not before it had given birth to the legend of the Brontës.
The Invention of Charlotte Brontë presents a different, darker take on one of the most famous women writers of the nineteenth century, showing Charlotte to be a strong but flawed individual. Through evaluating key events as well as introducing new archival material into the story, this lively biography challenges the established narrative to reveal the Brontë family as they’ve never been seen before.
- Publisher: Pegasus Books (August 5, 2025)
- Length: 288 pages
- ISBN13: 9781639369355
Marriage certainly makes a difference in some things and amongst others the disposition and consumption of time. I really seem to have had scarcely a spare moment... Not that I have been hurried or oppressed but the fact is my time is not my own now, somebody else wants a good portion of it and says we must do so and so. We do 'so and so' accordingly, and it generally seems the right thing-only I sometimes wish that I could have written the letter as well as taken the walk.
My life is changed indeed: to be wanted continually, to be constantly called for and occupied seems so strange: yet it is a marvellously good thing. As yet I don't quite understand how some wives grow so selfish. As far as my experience of matrimony goes, I think it tends to draw you out of and away from yourself. (Mrs. Nicholls aka Charlotte Bronte)
Graham Watson focuses on the last five years (1850-1855) of the life of Charlotte Bronte who becomes Charlotte Nicholls. In this debut biography, the reader meets the friend circle of Charlotte Bronte: Elizabeth Gaskell, Harriett Martineau, Kay Shuttleworth and Ellen Nussey. You will get to know who is a trusted friend of Charlotte Bronte and who is not. The relationship between Charlotte Bronte and Elizabeth Gaskell is key because of the first biography Gaskell will write and publish in 1857 two years after the death of her friend. The reader is left to form their own opinion regarding Charlotte's individual friendship with each of them which is an aspect of the biography that I truly enjoy. Currer Bell is brought into the frame while Charlotte Bronte is the last of her sisters to have her novels published. Aspects of Jane Eyre and Villette are discussed in various chapters. The Jane Eyre connection with a certain Mr. Thackeray shows the fangirl side of Charlotte Bronte. In 1853, Charlotte read a review of Villette posing the question, "What kind of circumstances produced women in revolt like Jane Eyre and Lucy Snowe?" Charlotte wrote a letter replying in explanation to answer his question. I absolutely loved the letter excerpts that author, Graham Watson uses throughout, The Invention of Charlotte Bronte: A New Life. There is nothing better than reading the words of Charlotte Bronte herself in various situations and aspects of the last years of her single and brief married life.
It was heartbreaking yet fascinating reading about the aspects of Charlotte Bronte and Rev. Patrick Bronte's life together, just the two of them in the parsonage. Patrick Bronte is ailing and aging while Charlotte Bronte takes care of him all the while becoming a published author and wife of the man that her father is hell bent against her marrying. I am so glad Charlotte didn't listen to her father and for a very brief few moments was truly loved as a woman and wife.
Graham Watson has shown us Charlotte Bronte as: Friend, Author, Daughter, and Mrs. Arthur Bell Nicholls as Wife. The Invention of Charlotte Bronte: A New Life debut biography by Graham Watson is a treasure to behold.
To purchase the book directly from the publisher, Simon & Schuster
To purchase from, Amazon
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