In this astonishing novel, a brilliant mélange of fact and fiction, Juliet Gael skillfully and stylishly captures the passions, hopes, dream...
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Jun 21, 2010
Lynda
rated it: 
For the life of me I cannot understand why I was so hesitant to read this novel in the historical fiction genre. Perhaps I was expecting more fiction than fact, more fluff than substance. What a pleasant surprise to discover that Romancing Miss Bronte was nothing like that at all.
Ms. Gael's prose is somewhat Austenesque although her subject matter is nowhere near Ms. Austen's well to do, charming, close-knit family with suitors stumbling over each other. This is the story of the family Br More...
Ms. Gael's prose is somewhat Austenesque although her subject matter is nowhere near Ms. Austen's well to do, charming, close-knit family with suitors stumbling over each other. This is the story of the family Br More...
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Nov 19, 2011
Michelle
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A long admirer of Charlotte Bronte, and all the Bronte authors, I picked up this book at the library purely out of curiosity. It left me in tears. Years ago, when I was thirteen or fourteen, my mother insisted over and over that I read Jane Eyre. I kept trying, but I just couldn't get past the first 100 pages. I couldn't see how it would improve. It felt depressing and morose. Finally, when I was fifteen, I committed to it. I don't think any novel has had a greater impact on me since. I
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Oct 18, 2010
Bird
rated it: 
Ugh, what a horribly depressing novel. This is partly my fault. I didn't know that all of the Bronte sisters, as well as their mother, died young. If I'd known that, I probably wouldn't have picked this up, because I tend to steer clear of sad books. (Life's sad enough, I don't need to read sad books, too!)
I didn't truly like any of the characters except for Arthur. Emily was insufferable, and why she was Charlotte's favorite is beyond me. She was cold and distant at best. (Wh More...
I didn't truly like any of the characters except for Arthur. Emily was insufferable, and why she was Charlotte's favorite is beyond me. She was cold and distant at best. (Wh More...
Jun 21, 2010
Amy
rated it:
Gael has written a beautiful piece of fiction based on the life of Charlotte Bronte. I had to pull myself away from reading this book! It fully captivated me with the story of love, pain, friendship, romance, soul connections, family loyalties, and the author's dedication to portraying the true essence of Charlotte, a strong woman. A big "thank you" to Juliet Gael for writing this story, as it was a real joy to be fully immersed in this lovely tale. I've been addicted to CB and her
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Oct 19, 2011
Lauren
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I have to say I am pleasantly surprised by this book. I am generally not partial to books and especially novels about a famous author’s life or sequels to their great works. If you have read Pride and Prejudice than I am sure your own imagination was sufficient about the lives of the Darcy's after their wedding vows and therefore are not in need for some cheap invention of Victorian sex. So with great trepidation I saw this book at the library and seeing and hearing great things about it I ga
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Aug 17, 2011
Pkc181
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I anticipated enjoying this book even though I did not really hope to learn anything new about Charlotte Bronte or her immediate family (most notably her sisters Emily and Anne and their “difficult” father, the Reverend Patrick Bronte). As an avid Bronte fan, I’ve read quite a few biographies on the Brontes, including what I consider to be the definitive work on the family “The Brontes” by Rebecca Fraser. I picked up this book primarily because I was intrigued on how the author would present Cha
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Jul 03, 2011
katie
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historical fiction books are perhaps my most favorite to read. i think that it takes a very talented and diligent writer to write a novel that will not only "stick to the facts" but will also win the heart of the reader. juliet gael does a wonderful job of breathing life into the story of the bronte family, especially charlotte. she did tons of research and took very few liberties with the story. she even cited many of charlotte's letters verbatim. jane eyre is in my top 5 favorit
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Oct 14, 2010
Jane
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Romancing Miss Brontë describes a slice of the life of Charlotte Brontë, starting with the appearance of Arthur Nicholls in the Brontë family's life. Nicholls had come to work as the curate for the Brontë paterfamilias, Patrick, who was going blind with cataracts. At this point in time the Brontë family--already diminished by the deaths of the mother and two children--was composed of Charlotte, Emily, Anne and their brother Branwell, who had begun his slide into alcoholism and drug addiction.
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May 08, 2010
C
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I must mention now: I'm not the kind of person who would be seen reading a book with "romancing" in the title. But for "Miss Brontë", I shall read! Anything for the Brontës. Other writers during the Brontës time were mainly concerned about money and marriage, but the Brontës were more more more. That is what I love about them. A lot of women of the day would have seen Arthur as a marriage opportunity the second they met him. But even after Arthur proposed, Cha
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Apr 10, 2010
Jennifer
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I received this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers giveaway. I initially thought that this book would be about a love affair involving one of the Bronte sisters, but in fact, it read much like a novelized biography of Charlotte. This, however, made the book all the more appealing to me. I have not read a biography of any of the Brontes, so I am not sure how much research is behind this book (since it was an ARC, the Author's notes are not included - I would be interested to read these),
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Mar 13, 2010
Grace
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I hope I can do justice to “Romancing Miss Bronte” when I describe why this is one of the best books I’ve ever read, certainly the best historical fiction novel I’ve ever had the pleasure to read.
Let me begin by saying that even before hearing about this novel, I have always wanted to read a realistic book about Charlotte Bronte’s life. That’s because I always considered it such a tragedy that almost all the people she was close to died so early, and she herself marrying someone tha More...
Let me begin by saying that even before hearing about this novel, I have always wanted to read a realistic book about Charlotte Bronte’s life. That’s because I always considered it such a tragedy that almost all the people she was close to died so early, and she herself marrying someone tha More...
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Jul 02, 2011
Angt27
rated it:
I haven't read any Bronte works, but that didn't stop me from really enjoying 'Romancing Miss Bronte'. They all lived such sad, tragic lives and that really came through in this novel, but not in a sensational manner, rather just that it was sad, but that was the way life was back then. I really felt like the characters came to life in the novel, particularly Emily and Charlotte and I wanted to throttle Branwell.
In particular I found this book provided an extremely interesting insi More...
In particular I found this book provided an extremely interesting insi More...
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Mar 23, 2010
Elaine
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Many of us have imagined what life was like for a particular artist. What contributed to his or her work of art, are there biographical reasons for certain characters in novels, for a fascination with particular models in art, an event which spurred a composer to create a given opus? In recent years, various novelists have taken these musings, hopefully along with biographical research, and created novels of the lives of well known artists and writers. Such imaginings are not confined to nove
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Aug 05, 2011
Hooma
rated it:
I devoured this book - I could not put it down and I enjoyed every moment of it. Reading this book has inspired me to read the writings of other famous 18th century British female novelists.
I learned so much about Charlotte Bronte from this novel and even though this text falls into the category of historical fiction, the key characters and events are accurate and project a very real picture of who Charlotte Bronte was and the kind of life she lived.
This statement may sou More...
I learned so much about Charlotte Bronte from this novel and even though this text falls into the category of historical fiction, the key characters and events are accurate and project a very real picture of who Charlotte Bronte was and the kind of life she lived.
This statement may sou More...
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Sep 19, 2010
Shanda
rated it:
I absolutely enjoyed this novel; a blend of fact and fiction that relates the life of Charlotte Bronte and most specifically focuses on her personal love story.
This quote from the book is a wonderful description of Charlotte Bronte
I don't think I've ever met a being so deserving of success and human affection What she has endured, and yet overcome - her courage and perseverance through the most dreadful personal difficulties - and weathering all of this in utter loneli More...
This quote from the book is a wonderful description of Charlotte Bronte
I don't think I've ever met a being so deserving of success and human affection What she has endured, and yet overcome - her courage and perseverance through the most dreadful personal difficulties - and weathering all of this in utter loneli More...
Apr 15, 2010
Alayne
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Romancing Miss Brontë will make you want to read anything and everything by the Brontë sisters. Following the life of Charlotte and her siblings from the times before they were published, through tragedy and heartbreak, to the last stages of Charlotte’s life, Juliet Gael’s debut novel is informative, alluring, romantic, and insightful. Crafted from fact, it is a visionary work, reminiscent of the Brontë’s writing itself. Pulling themes from the Brontë’s books, and molding them into realistic por
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Nov 21, 2010
Jessica
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Jul 04, 2010
Cheryl
rated it:
What a beautifully told and researched tale. This story of Charlotte and her family is pure poetry. It has to be so very daunting to write a fresh, new tale of such a icon of literature especially for modern readers who can have great difficulty transporting themselves sympathetically to another era. This story succeeds on so many levels and I really don't have the intellectual capacity to do it justice.
This "novel" was so detailed that I had to keep reminding myself that More...
This "novel" was so detailed that I had to keep reminding myself that More...
Sep 20, 2011
Linda
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A fellow voracious reader loaned me this book and warned me to keep the tissues handy. She was right and because it's so heartwrenching, I couldn't finish it in one sitting. This is a non-fiction novel, a factual novel, a hybrid--there needs to be a category.
The author takes well known facts about people and places and events around Charlote Bronte and fills in the details. The established knowledge of Bronte's staggering family losses will rip your heart out. Just when the literary More...
The author takes well known facts about people and places and events around Charlote Bronte and fills in the details. The established knowledge of Bronte's staggering family losses will rip your heart out. Just when the literary More...
Jul 09, 2011
Serendipitous
rated it:
This is a very enjoyable fictionalized biography of Charlotte Bronte. She grew up fairly sheltered, with a trip to continental Europe providing her only real life experience outside of the English countryside. While studying in Brussels, she fell deeply in love with one of her professors, but to her great sorrow, her love remained unrequited. She drew upon the passion and dreams of this period, as well as her own fertile imagination, to write "Jane Eyre."
Charlotte and h More...
Charlotte and h More...
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Jul 09, 2010
Jennifer (JC-S)
rated it:
‘If you could only be content with mortal love –stripped of all delusion.’
This novel begins with the arrival in Haworth of Arthur Bell Nicholls, Patrick Brontë’s new curate. It is 1845, and the four surviving Brontë siblings (Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne) are all living in Haworth Parsonage with their father. Charlotte has returned from her time in Brussels, and her experience there and her attachment to Constantin Heger, partly define the woman we meet in the pages of this More...
This novel begins with the arrival in Haworth of Arthur Bell Nicholls, Patrick Brontë’s new curate. It is 1845, and the four surviving Brontë siblings (Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne) are all living in Haworth Parsonage with their father. Charlotte has returned from her time in Brussels, and her experience there and her attachment to Constantin Heger, partly define the woman we meet in the pages of this More...
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Jun 21, 2010
Lydia
rated it:
I must admit something - I've never read Wuthering Heights. Are you shocked? You should be! I am. This summer I intend to remedy that - in fact, I am making plans to read Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey. Romancing Miss Bronte struck home with me and I am desperate to read and understand all three books with the light shed on these sisters.
This year I read <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/88921995>Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler</a> and More...
This year I read <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/88921995>Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler</a> and More...
Mar 19, 2010
Judy
rated it:
Most of us grew up loving "Jane Eyre" but in "Romancing Miss Bronte" Juliet Gael puts a real person behind the much-admired governess.
A blend of fact and fiction, "Romancing Miss Bronte" explores the life of Charlotte Bronte, along with her equally fascinating family, especially the free-spirited sister Emily.
My admiration for Charlotte Bronte grew even more after realizing what an arduous and lonely life she led. The harsh Yorkshire clima More...
A blend of fact and fiction, "Romancing Miss Bronte" explores the life of Charlotte Bronte, along with her equally fascinating family, especially the free-spirited sister Emily.
My admiration for Charlotte Bronte grew even more after realizing what an arduous and lonely life she led. The harsh Yorkshire clima More...
Mar 26, 2010
Amy
rated it:
For anyone who is a lover of the Brontë sisters this will be an enjoyable read. Gael takes the details of their lives and makes a great story. She does a good job of making the characters believable first based on known facts and also based on their own writings. If you have read Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights, Charlotte and Emily's characterizations only seem natural. I haven't read any other biographies/novels about the Brontë sisters so I do not know how this compares but I do believe it is w
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Apr 23, 2010
As much as I wanted to become engrossed in the world of the Brontë sisters -- all authors I've read and enjoyed in my literary lifetime -- the novel failed to hold my interest. And I'm not quite sure why.
It's not for lack of talent. Gael's prose, though sometimes dense, was interesting -- and I found the sisters' stories compelling. For the most part. Maybe it was just that the book felt like a dip in a vast, thick and murky pool and, when hunkered down with it, it was all so depress More...
It's not for lack of talent. Gael's prose, though sometimes dense, was interesting -- and I found the sisters' stories compelling. For the most part. Maybe it was just that the book felt like a dip in a vast, thick and murky pool and, when hunkered down with it, it was all so depress More...
Apr 13, 2010
Meredith (Austenesque Reviews)
rated it:
Similar to the style of Nancy Moser and Syrie James, Romancing Miss Bronte by Juliet Gael is a biographical fiction novel that integrates fact with fiction and blends true events with inferred dialogue. These types of novels have been growing more popular as of late and are wonderful for readers who are interested in the lives of historical figures and authors but not too keen on reading a biography or nonfiction work.
Romancing Miss Bronte begins in the year 1845 with the arrival o More...
Romancing Miss Bronte begins in the year 1845 with the arrival o More...
Sep 15, 2010
Lark
rated it: 
This is a historical fiction novel about Charlotte Bronte's adult life. While I appreciated learning more about her life as an authoress and her relationship with her sisters, I didn't love the writing style. For the first half of the book I wasn't sure if I was reading a novel or a biography. At one point, the author writes, "And so we see, dear readers..." That kind of made me question if I was really reading fiction. Anyway the "romancing" part picked up in the 2nd half
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Mar 09, 2011
Margaret
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The snob in me wanted to say that I only "liked it" because of course "I don't read mere romance novels". But that is a lie! I adore romances about historical personages. And I stayed up late three nights in a row to finish this.
Do you know the basic history of the Bronte family? Good, read this book which fills in the fictional details. If you don't know it, you will hate this book. Real life is unfortunately pretty sucky, and the Brontes had suckiness in spades. More...
Do you know the basic history of the Bronte family? Good, read this book which fills in the fictional details. If you don't know it, you will hate this book. Real life is unfortunately pretty sucky, and the Brontes had suckiness in spades. More...
Jul 04, 2010
Leslie
rated it:
A moving look at the final years of the Brontë sisters, encompassing the writing and publication of their novels and centering around the courtship and eventual marriage of Charlotte, the last surviving sister, by her father's curate Arthur Bell Nicholls, Romancing Miss Brontë almost hits the perfect balance between fact and fiction.
While I had a few minor quibbles with it, for the most part the characters are portrayed accurately and realistically, without any of the high-flown rom More...
While I had a few minor quibbles with it, for the most part the characters are portrayed accurately and realistically, without any of the high-flown rom More...
Jun 21, 2010
Sara
rated it:
Though I expected the 'romancing' part of Romancing Miss Bronte to take up more of the novel, I was pleasantly surprised by this pick.
At the beginning, I found the book extremely slow and stilted and it took time to appreciate the vivid personalities of Charlotte Bronte and her family. As I moved through the book though, I found that the story picked up the pace at about the time Charlotte was publishing Jane Eyre, and just continued to pick up from there.
When Charlotte's More...
At the beginning, I found the book extremely slow and stilted and it took time to appreciate the vivid personalities of Charlotte Bronte and her family. As I moved through the book though, I found that the story picked up the pace at about the time Charlotte was publishing Jane Eyre, and just continued to pick up from there.
When Charlotte's More...
