Charlotte Bronte: A Fiery Heart

author: Claire Harman

Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart is a fascinating biography of the author of Jane Eyre, Shirley, and Villette. Author Claire Harman is able to make a life in which frankly not much happened engaging and interesting. The biography spans Charlotte’s life as well as her parents’ background, the lives of her siblings, and Charlotte’s artistic legacy.

Harman places a lot of focus on the unrequited love that Charlotte felt for Constantin Héger, her professor at the school Charlotte attended and then taught at in Brussels. Charlotte based her unpublished novel, The Professor, and her novel, Villette, on her experience in Brussels, and his influence is also felt in Jane Eyre. She also writes about Charlotte’s frustrations at being the oldest of the children after the older of the two died, and her determination to marry for love (she turned down several proposals before being won over by Arthur Nicholls). Harman makes the case that the Brontës didn’t mind isolation – they thrived on it and depended on it. What they minded was their limited options in terms of how to earn a living and how to achieve recognition.

There are some weird gaps in the biography. Harman doesn’t write much about the sisters’ complex relationship to food, even though on at least one occasion they went on a coordinated hunger strike, and despite the fact that many feminist scholars believe that Emily was anorexic (and possibly Charlotte, as well). She also doesn’t dwell on the passionate nature of the friendship between Charlotte and Emily Nussey, a friendship that fascinated another biographer, Deborah Lutz, in The Brontë Cabinet. However, Harman gives a detailed look at the sibling’s relationships to each other and to their eccentric father, Charlotte’s one-sided relationship to Héger, and her tension between wanting recognition and wanting to stay invisible.

This biography is both comprehensive and approachable. It presents Charlotte as a complex person, one who is incredibly sympathetic yet also at times deeply annoying (she had horrible prejudices against Catholics and anyone non-English, and her social anxiety could cause her to appear rude and snobby). This is a powerful and compelling biography that will enhance any Brontë fan’s understanding of Charlotte’s life and fiction.

– Carrie S

Nonfiction

Fortune Favors the Wicked

author: Theresa Romain

The newest Romain, though not about horse racing, involves a treasure hunt, a former courtesan, and a blind hero who does not magically become not-blind by the end of the book.

A chest of gold coins has been stolen from the Royal Mint, and a large reward has been offered for their return. Charlotte Perry is in her hometown to find them (she needs the money to start a new life for herself that does not include being a courtesan).

Benedict Frost is in the same town for the same reason, but HE needs the money to self-publish his memoirs. He would rather be traditionally published, but all of the publishers won’t touch it as a memoir because he has done some ridiculous stuff in his life, and no one will believe he really did because he’s blind, and OBVIOUSLY other people did all the stuff while he wrote things while wrapped in a blankie sipping tea.  So he’s forced into self-pub, but self-pub requires capital and capital is hard to come by so when the Treasury is like ”help us find our gold coins!” Benedict is ON IT.  Naturally he and Charlotte met and sparks fly.

What I found the most interesting about this book was how the blind hero was written. He hadn’t always been blind – he was struck by a disease while he was in the Navy – and the narrative describes with abundant detail how he moves through a world he can’t see, but he still perceives. And I really appreciated that she doesn’t magically cure him of his blindness. Love doesn’t cure all things, and this is a part of who he is now.

Charlotte is a well-drawn take on what brings a person to leave her small village and become a courtesan in London, and what causes her to leave that life, and all of the messiness that her choices have caused.  I literally don’t want to say anything else because spoilers.

This was a fun adventure story, with a HELL of a cover.  Seriously, look at it, it’s GORGEOUS.

– Redheadedgirl

Historical: European, Romance

The Prince Who Loved Me

author: Karen Hawkins

The Prince Who Loved Me by Karen Hawkins is a Cinderella story with a  twist. I enjoyed the fairytale aspect of the novel, but it definitely had some problems.

Bronwyn Murdoch is content with being the plain, spinster older sister (or so she thinks). Her younger stepsisters are both beautiful and destined to be a success during their Seasons, while Bronwyn can’t dance, can’t sing, and is labeled a blue stocking. Now at twenty-four and on the shelf, she runs the family’s household and spends time day dreaming about heroic princes she thinks she’ll never meet. She’s sitting under a tree reading about one of those princes when a handsome Huntsman appears on her property, chasing his misbehaving dog. The two share a kiss and Bronwyn figures she’ll never see him again.

Turns out he’s Prince Alexsey Romanovin from the country of Oxenburg. He’s staying at a neighboring estate for a house party. Alexsey can’t forget Bronwyn–she’s smart and sassy and curvy and she challenges him. The problem is Bronwyn’s stepmother and Alexsey’s grandmother have decided that Bronwyn’s stepsister, Sorcha, will make the perfect princess.

So what were the problems with this book? Alexsey’s mother was Romany, and this book sometimes trips itself up with “exotic gypsy” stereotypes. For example, Alexsey’s Romany grandmother curses people and threatens to turn them into goats. Noooooooope. So much nope.

Also Alexsey sometimes comes across as an oversexed douche bag.

I did like that Bronwyn’s stepsisters and stepmothers weren’t villains. Her stepmother is sometimes insensitive, but it’s never intentional.

As a Cinderella story, The Prince Who Loved Me was okay, but the Romany stereotypes and (sometimes) Alexsey’s behavior pissed me off.

– Elyse

Historical: European, Romance