Emily's Ghost: A Novel of the Brontë Sisters

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Emily's Ghost: A Novel of the Brontë Sisters

3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 · rating details · 447 ratings · 125 reviews

“A convincing reimagining of the Brontë story, perfect for Brontë fans.”—Booklist

Enigmatic, intelligent, and fiercely independent, Emily Brontë refuses to bow to the conventions of her day. She is distrustful of marriage, prefers freedom above all else, and walks alone at night on the moors above the isolated rural village of Haworth. But Emily’s life is turned upside down...more

Paperback, 335 pages

Published July 5th 2010 by W. W. Norton & Company (first published July 3rd 2009)

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Jul 06, 2011 Heather rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

The cover of Emily’s Ghost makes two misleading statements. First, the subtitle, A Novel of The Bronte Sisters: This book is not about the Bronte sisters. It is about Emily. Second, the quote from Booklist, which proclaims the book “A convincing imagining of the Bronte story, perfect for Bronte fans.” If devotees of Charlotte and her Jane Eyre may be included among “Bronte fans,” then this statement is a lie. Had this book been touted as an inside look at the underappreciated life of Emily Bront...more The cover of Emily’s Ghost makes two misleading statements. First, the subtitle, A Novel of The Bronte Sisters: This book is not about the Bronte sisters. It is about Emily. Second, the quote from Booklist, which proclaims the book “A convincing imagining of the Bronte story, perfect for Bronte fans.” If devotees of Charlotte and her Jane Eyre may be included among “Bronte fans,” then this statement is a lie. Had this book been touted as an inside look at the underappreciated life of Emily Bronte, I might have enjoyed it more, but I was constantly at odds with it because it most certainly was not “a novel of the Bronte sisters.”

Insofar as Charlotte and Anne (and even the short-lived Maria and Elizabeth) appear as characters in the book, it is a novel about the Bronte sisters and their whole household. However, the story is Emily’s and Emily’s alone. The perspective is hers, the tone is hers, and all the admirable attributes are hers, too. This last is the most disturbing characteristic of the book. In order to bring Emily to life, Ms. Giardina seems intentionally to make Anne a thin character and Charlotte a reprehensible one. In her “reading group guide” notes, she declares how the Brontes’ story has always been Charlotte’s, thus leading to her reimagining of Emily’s story. What she does goes too far, though. Charlotte is cast as a discontented, prudish yet serially lovesick, selfish, vindictive older sister. Every word Ms. Giardina puts in her mouth reinforces one of these characteristics. The semi-frequent reassurances of the author that the sisters of course love each other despite their differences ring hollow when coupled with such strong negative characterization.

Emily, then, becomes an embodiment of everything Charlotte is not. Emily achieves oneness with nature through her attachment to her animals and to the moors. Emily is sympathetic to the plight of the poor and sacrifices herself in quiet ways. Emily speaks to ghosts and adds more than a splash of old pagan beliefs to her Christianity. Most importantly, Emily can fall deeply into a love affair—a tortured, hopeless love affair—unlike anything this Charlotte could even imagine.

What all this proves is not that Emily was truly superior to her sisters, but that Ms. Giardina has an axe to grind, or several. She writes from the same old feminist revisionist viewpoint that most serious historical novelists today adopt. Emily Bronte is unashamedly made into a pinup girl for Feminism before its time. This is ridiculous. Not, perhaps, because Emily Bronte was not really something of a proto-Feminist, but because Charlotte could not possibly have been the staid, patriarchy-loving, Victorian prude portrayed here. Has Ms. Giardina read Villette? Emily’s Ghost turns out to be not so much “A Novel of the Bronte Sisters” as a novel advocating social reforms, religious plurality, and unimpeded emotion ruling over every other human characteristic. In the novel, Emily is incensed by Charlotte’s basing a totally unlike character upon herself; how ironic that Ms. Giardina seems to have committed the very authorial sin against which she writes.

Despite these egregious flaws, the novel is engaging. The style repeatedly reminded me of Thomas Hardy novels, although I suppose it was intended to emulate Wuthering Heights. The love story was moving enough, despite the badly uneven characters. Every now and again Ms. Giardina aspires to punchy ambiguity through the frustrating habit of poorly placed sentence fragments, but overall the writing is good. It inspired thought as well as pleasure throughout, even if the thoughts did primarily fight against the book’s grain. Had I read extensively on the Bronte sisters’ lives, this book might have been a nice balance to my knowledge. Since I had not, I am now inspired to read more. That in itself may be the book’s most admirable quality for me.(less)

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Jun 24, 2010 faeriemyst marked it as hell-to-the-no · review of another edition

Shelves: authors-behaving-badly, author-cuts-nose-off-to-spite-face, avoid-like-the-plague, you-could-not-pay-me-enough-to-read

She's an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church?!? You've got to be freaking kidding me.

More information about her Author Behaving Badly status:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1OXFW5P...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3O7VP...

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Feb 23, 2013 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A tragic love story about a gifted and determined Emily Bronte who values her freedom in Haworth regardless of how people view her. Over time Emily becomes good friends with her father's clergyman, William Weightman. He is devoted to the poor and sick, and she falls in love with him. Just as they are beginning their relationship, Emily must leave Haworth to accompany Charlotte to Brussels (to learn French against her will). While there cholera hits Haworth, and among the many deaths, William suc...more

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Apr 16, 2010 Anne Broyles rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As a Bronte lover, I was attracted to this rich piece of historical fiction. After I finished reading it, I went to my other Bronte books: why hadn't I remembered that Emily had a romance? Because there's no factual proof that she did. That hardly matters in the world of fiction, though, since Giardina creates the Brontes' world in a way that makes sense given the physical setting and the scant historical details which are known. As passionately as Emily wrote (Heathcliff! Catherine! the moors!)...more

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Jan 13, 2010 Cynthia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: great-reads

This is a piece of historical fiction that I saw reviewed in our local paper. Then my mom read it and recommended it as well. Based on the lives of the Bronte sisters, this novel focuses on the three surviving sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. This novel had me hooked from the beginning. The author definitely favors Emily, as Charlotte is portrayed as a closed-minded, society climbing person and Anne is the quiet, steady sister. I found myself not liking Charlotte even though I strongly prefer...more

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Apr 26, 2011 Tiffany rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

I came to this novel with high expectations. As an avid fan of the Bronte sisters, I read criticism of the novel that claimed the novel to be well-researched, and "perfect for Bronte fans."

This novel is only perfect for the Bronte fans that are unfamiliar with the lives of the Bronte family. Although I have only read a few biographies on the family, I have written several research papers on their works, and I consider Denise Giardina's novel to grossly ignore the facts of the Brontes' lives, in...more

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Feb 12, 2010 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Jane Eyre," by Charlotte Bronte, is one of my favorite books of all time. I know this book is about her sister, Emily, but I am interested in learning (though this is a work of fiction) a little about their living circumstances, social lives, etc.

***Later***

A very interesting story about Emily Bronte (author of "Wuthering Heights") and her relationship with her sisters, her father, brother and a curate named Mr. Weightman (aka "Willie"). I always love reading stories about strong women - in th...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Laura Rodd rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this novel on the Bronte sisters. For all those who believe that Victorian England was an endless promenade of beautiful women in bustling silk dresses dancing in elegant, candlelit halls with handsome, attentive men this book will serve as an eyeopener of how the other less rich female members of "society" lived. Protected from true poverty by their father's position as a clergyman the Bronte sisters nonetheless have been educated so that they can provide for themselves since a...more

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Jan 17, 2011 Donna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved this book. Being a great fan of the Brontё sisters…and historical fiction I so enjoyed this imaginative account of the life and loves of both Emily, Anne and Charlotte. Although the author takes literary license, it still gives the reader a very accurate account of life in nineteenth century England. Giardina reflects the same Gothic style as both Emily and Charlotte in their novels…Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre…two of my most favorite books. She is also very well informed of both hist...more

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Feb 13, 2011 Shelly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 01, 2009 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: family-relationships, fiction, friendship, gothic-fiction, historical-fiction, library-books, paranormal, read-in-2009, reading-challenges, remarkable-reads, sisters, women, young-women

Emily's Ghost is well-written and simply beautiful. I found myself easily and deliciously lost in the world of the Brontë sisters almost immediately upon picking up the book. From the breathtaking descriptions of the moors to the Victorian boarding school, Emily's Ghost is full of the Gothic elements that make for a wonderfully atmospheric novel. Giardina's style of writing is lyrical and descriptive, illustrating the unconventional love story at the heart of the novel. The characters and their...more

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Aug 18, 2010 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

I love everything Bronte so when I saw this book on the "new" shelf at my library, I jumped at it. Reviews for this book were mostly glowing so I was surprised when I had a hard time getting into this book. Nearly half way through I thought of giving up but keep going at it. The last forty pages of this book really made the book for me. The end was so heart wrench, mostly because we had spent the other 200 and someting odd pages learning every details about our characters that we were able to fe...more

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Sep 14, 2011 Eda** rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Although I'm not really a big fan of Charlotte Bronte, I must say that this book is a little too cruel to her. She is portraited as a shallow woman who desires only to get married, which I think is not quite fair to her memory.
But other than that, as a big fan of Wuthering Heights and Emily Bronte, I must say this book was a fantastic read for me! I had no idea about Emily's life before reading this and now I've started looking it up in the internet and from the libraries.
Oh, and another critic...more

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May 13, 2011 Js rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, the-unhappy-endings

After reading Emily's Wuthering Heights and reading the dark themes of love and hate I became interested in the author. Then after reading Jane Eyre by Emily's sister and seeing the difference in the books, despite the sisters growing up together and being only years apart I became interested in all three sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. I went in search of a book on them and came across Emily's ghost which gives such life to the three. Whilst the book is mainly centered on Emily (whilst I am...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Mary rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Mary by: Ellen

Shelves: historical-fiction

As painted by Giardina, Emily Bronte is a strong-willed, sensitive, very different young woman who neither fits in nor cares to fit in to the society around her. A good role model. We get a good picture of the sisters and their lives. I always appreciate historical fiction for giving a glimpse into another time. This time was wracked by poverty near the beginning of the industrial revolution, with the price exacted in lives ruined in misery until death. Cholera sweeps through the village at one...more

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Oct 05, 2009 Joanne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Giardina apparently read several Bronte sisters biographies and then fictionalized Emily's life. It's an enjoyable read, though Emily is, of course, tragic. She lives in genteel poverty, has strong social justice advocacy, and an unfulfilled love. She's socially eccentric and refuses to be anything else, a feminist before her time. I don't have any idea of how much of this story is true, nor do I really care, since this story was just plain enjoyable on its own.

I've always preferred Charlotte's...more

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Aug 17, 2010 Jennifer rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Didn't like" is too mild. I HATED this book. The author obviously has a love/hate relationship with Emily and Charlotte Bronte. Meaning she loves Emily and hates Charlotte. She casts Charlotte as the villain in the book and attributes her, at the least, with self-serving, sniveling pretensions, and, at the worst, with absolute evil motives and actions.

The same source material (the facts) could have easily been used to write a novel depicting Emily as a stark-raving lunatic and Charlotte as the...more

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Aug 25, 2009 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved this book about the Bronte sisters. I thought it was well written, and the characters came to life for me. Having visited the area, I could picture in my mind their home and surroundings and the moors. Keep a box of kleenex handy. I can't imagine you all not loving this book.

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Mar 08, 2013 Tinika rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

I was drawn to read Emily's Ghost as Wuthering Heights has always been one of my favourite books. I agree with other reviewers that Charlotte is very poorly and unfairly portrayed but I still liked this book overall. I thought the author captured the feel of the moors and life at Haworth parsonage with a curious mixture of fact and fiction. It is quite feasible that all three sisteers were at least attracted to William Weightman at some point and he did walk to Bradford to mail them the Valentin...more

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Oct 24, 2009 Sheryl rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Brontë sisters come vividly to life in this novel about their brief, impassioned lives as sisters, daughters, and writers. Intelligent, creative young women, they live with their father, Patrick, who is the pastor of the poor community of Haworth, Yorkshire. They prefer to keep their own company, but two of the sisters, Ann and Charlotte, leave to work as governesses. Emily stays home to be with her father and wander the moors that she loves so passionately. When a young clergyman, William W...more

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Mar 21, 2011 Wilhelmina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, novel

I read this book out of curiosity. Denise Giardina writes wonderful Appalachian fiction and is an ordained Episcopal deacon - I wondered why she would choose to write a fictionalized account of the life of Emily Bronte. I found out the answer very quickly - she pays a great deal of attention to the plight of coal miners and others living in poverty at this time in addition to including theological ideas in debate at the time. This is an enjoyable, interesting, and highly fictionalized look at th...more

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Nov 09, 2012 Sherry Chiger rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you've read at least one biography of the Brontes, you're apt to find this novelization of the life of Emily and her family exasperating, if not downright irksome. For starters, Denise Giardina alters some of the more mundane facts for what seems to be no good reason (Emily's hawk was named Hero, for instance, not Nero as Giardina would have it).

Then there's the principal conceit of the novel itself: that Emily and her father's curate William Weightman were deeply in love, a love so intense...more If you've read at least one biography of the Brontes, you're apt to find this novelization of the life of Emily and her family exasperating, if not downright irksome. For starters, Denise Giardina alters some of the more mundane facts for what seems to be no good reason (Emily's hawk was named Hero, for instance, not Nero as Giardina would have it).

Then there's the principal conceit of the novel itself: that Emily and her father's curate William Weightman were deeply in love, a love so intense it drove her to prolonged fits of sobbing and even near-murder (don't ask). Giardina manages to explain away why no evidence of said love remains, but she never convinces that this scenario could have been. Some of that may be because she does more telling than showing. We're told that Emily's fictional world and her writing are at least as important to her as her real world, yet we're never given more than the barest glimpse of her alternative reality, nor do we see her writing. If, as we're told, Emily's fear of losing the freedom to imagine and write was the primary reason she refused to marry Weightman, shouldn't that aspect of her be delineated as much as her bread-baking and her training of her hawk?

As I read the book, I wondered repeatedly why Giardina didn't take the fictionalization a step further, and make the protagonists not Emily and Weightman but, say, Elinor and Walter, who lived not in Yorkshire but in the Highlands. Was it because by draping this unlikely plot onto a well-known figure she could take short cuts in terms of setting the milieu? Personally I'd have enjoyed the book more if I wasn't continually thinking how dissimilar the Emily, and to a lesser degree, the Patrick Bronte of this book were to their real-life counterparts based on the knowledge I already had of them--especially as the plotting, pacing, and characterisations are quite entertaining, as is the writing for the most part (barring a few real clunker sentences).

All in all, instead of reading Emily's Ghost, I'd suggest picking up another fairly recent novel about the Brontes, the far superior Taste of Sorrow (titled Charlotte and Emily in the States) by Jude Morgan--or rereading Wuthering Heights, which is what I started doing almost immediately upon finishing this book.(less)

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Jul 23, 2009 Carli rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a beautifully written fictional account of a portion of Emily Bronte's life. It is not written in the style of a Bronte sister, as, for some reason, I expected it would be. Instead, the author writes largely from Emily's perspective in lovely, descriptive prose about a relationship that may or may not have happened between Emily and her father's assistant, William Weightman. Because Emily's perspective is featured throughout the book, Charlotte's faults stand out much more than Emily's,...more

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Oct 27, 2009 Kristen added it · review of another edition

Meh, no rating given, as I didn't finish this one. I had a couple of problems with it. It seemed like the author was really forcing Emily, Anne, and Charlotte Bronte into specific roles that would suit her narrative, which seems rather unfair to these once-actually-living people. Sure, I prefer Wuthering Heights to Jane Eyre too, but that doesn't mean I necessarily think Charlotte Bronte was a self-conscious, man-hunting, pathetic, sadly conventional person. Granted, I haven't read any biographi...more

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Aug 27, 2011 Emily rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you looking for an autobiography book about the Bronte sisters then this is not what your looking for, However if you willing to view this book as a fiction based on Real people then i would recommend this book. I've always had a fasination with the tragic lives of the bronte sisters and find their story beautiful and to me this story was no exception, I enjoyed roaming the moores with Emily and her trusty dog keeper, although this book is clearly fiction i enjoyed it emensly
and would recomm...more

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Feb 16, 2010 Mandy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I decided to read this book after seeing it reviewed by a friend. It was super! I of course love a strong female heroine character, which this has, and even though it is set in Englad in the 1800's, it is easy to inderstand. Although fictional, this book is about the Bronte sisters who wrote book that were published originally under men's names. I have read Jane Eyre written by the oldest surviving sister, and plan to read Wuthering Heights now too. I sure hate romantic tragedy though, and it se...more

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Sep 04, 2009 Marci rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I would have given this five stars because the love story was so very beautifully written and so very evocative of the Romantic period and of the overall mood of Wuthering Heights--but the writer was sloppy with a couple key points of research and development. However, the two problems I spotted didn't detract from the overall mood, the convincing emotions, and the believable early-nineteenth century milieu she painted. I just wanted to rewrite the silly translation of Schiller's "Ode to Joy" th...more

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Jul 01, 2012 Susan Seely rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved this story, whether or not it was based on fact. The historical information and reminders of how women were not given the same rights as men simply because they were women was a rich reminder to me of how far the world has come.

Although, sadly, there is still such deplorable poverty, class and race distinctions, we as women have the same opportunities as men without having to marry for a chance at a better life. We can be educated and independent and I believe that women like Emily Bron...more

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Mar 02, 2011 Elaine rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked the imaginative creation of what the lives of the Brontes was like, but I did not like the license the author took when she created Charlotte as coquetish and jealous of the fictionalized attention of a cleric for Emily. I think history and researchers might say that maybe the youngest three daughters might have cared for Rev. William Weightman, but I do think that he and Anne had the closest feelings of romance toward each other, but Anne's secretness and awareness of her pending mortal...more

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Dec 27, 2010 Fran rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am a big fan of historical fiction. It was not the best I've read but it did keep my interest. It gave you a feel for Emily Bronte's display for tragic love. Whether true or not, you also got a feel for the relationship and differences between Charlotte and Emily. That difference is recognized in their writings. One fact I did not know was that Emily died at the young age of 30. It makes you wonder if she would have found some happiness in her life which may have given her writing a different...more

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About Denise Giardina

Often labelled an Appalachian writer, or a historical novelist, Denise Giardina describes herself as a theological writer, exploring fundamental issues of faith and belief through literary characters.

Born and raised in the West Virginia coalfields, Giardina is an ordained Episcopal Church deacon, a community activist and a former candidate for the WV state governorship.

Her novels, fictionalizing h...more

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