Bingeing on Biographies

By Kat Meads

Amused to see me clutching yet another Brontë biography, a pal of mine remarked: “Still hoping that story will come out differently?”

(In my case, the alternate story would be: Emily lives on, spared sister Charlotte’s “improving”/meddling with her work, and successfully publishes a Wuthering Heights follow-up, its plot as thick with revenge, fog, lust and ghosts as its predecessor.)

My pal was teasing, joking. However. It’s a valid question. What motivates serial biogra...