‘A vivid and evocative portrait of the lost Brontë brother, a lyrical account of the family, landscape and era that made this tormented man what he was, conspire to make a magical novel. Branwell talks, suffers, loves – the sisters fret, the moor lives and breathes – we believe every word of it – and rightly so. Poet Bardsley has done her research and come up with convincing insights into Branwell’s short, tragic life, and transmuted it into an admirable piece of literature.’
Fay Weldon
Branwell
Brontë was the fourth child of six, and the only son, born to
Reverend Patrick Brontë and his wife Maria in 1817. Branwell’s
mother died when he was aged four and his two elder sisters,
Maria and Elizabeth, died of tuberculosis, when he was aged eight. His
three surviving sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, would become
famous as writers.
Branwell
Brontë was a painter and poet but deeply self-deprecating. When he
died aged just 31, he had become addicted to opium and other
drugs and many who knew him dismissed him as a wastrel and
failure.
In truth
Branwell Brontë was a loving, charming and brilliant man and this
sensitive and moving fictional work portrays all of those qualities
superbly.
Based on
real events and people in 19th century Yorkshire, with a new
final chapter, Branwell Brontë’s Creation is a novel worthy of its
subject.
‘Rarely
have I found a writer so immured in the characters of the Brontë
family and their friends. Bardsley knows her Brontës well, and
their lives, their home, their times. Wendy’s characterization and
storytelling are superb.’
Bob Duckett, UK Editor, Brontë Studies