As regular readers of this Brontë blog will know, it’s been a very busy few weeks for me. I was married two weeks ago, and earlier this week I returned from the beautiful, sunny island of Fuerteventura. It was a perfect honeymoon after a perfect wedding, so thank you to all who sent their congratulations. There has also been another event, and this time it’s Brontë related – at the start of this week The History Press released a new paperback edition of my book Emily Brontë: A Life In 20 Poems.
The original hardback version was published in 2018 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Emily Brontë’s birth, and it was the second of my Brontë biographies after In Search Of Anne Brontë (also published by The History Press). It received a glowing review in The Times Literary Supplement, so I’m thrilled that this new paperback version will allow the book, and Emily’s life story, to reach even more people.
Emily Brontë was far from an ordinary writer; a genius of the highest order, she was also a unique woman. For that reason I didn’t want to write a simple, straightforward account of her life. That’s why I chose to look at Emily’s life through her poetry. Each of the twenty chapters begins with one of Emily’s powerful poems, and I use that to illuminate one of twenty areas of her life. By doing so, I hoped to present a comprehensive unveiling of Emily’s life and beliefs.
In the book I look at Emily’s work, her brilliant poetry and her sole novel Wuthering Heights, which I think is the greatest book ever written. I look at how such a shy woman could have written such powerful and enduring work, and investigate the ‘world within’ which came to dominate her life and thoughts. My book also looks at Emily’s relationships with key figures in her life such as Charlotte, Anne and Branwell Brontë, and at her love of nature and the moors which stretched around her.
This new paperback edition allowed me to utilise some of the additional Emily Brontë research I’ve been carrying out since the book’s initial publication. As well as an all new introduction, there are also two brand new appendices. In the first of these, I solve the mystery of Emily Brontë’s name (as Emily is the only Brontë child not named after a relative); in the second, I provide translations of Emily’s Belgian devoirs, or homeworks. These French language essays are now available in English, so we can all enjoy Emily’s brilliant takes on a range of subjects. When asked to present a simple essay about the cat, for example, Emily begins by stating: “I can sincerely say that I love cats, and so I will give very good reasons why those who hate them are wrong.”
The book is available right now from The History Press, Amazon and all good booksellers. If you’d like a signed copy please do get in touch and I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime I hope you can join me next Sunday for another new Brontë blog post.