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Charlotte Brontë

A Life

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Charlotte Brontë

By: Claire Harman
Narrated by: Claire Harman
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About this listen

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Charlotte Brontë: A Life written and read by Claire Harman.

Raised motherless on remote Yorkshire moors, watching five beloved siblings sicken and die, haunted by unrequited love: Charlotte Brontë's life has all the drama and tragedy of the great Gothic novels it inspired.

Charlotte was a literary visionary, a feminist trailblazer and the driving force behind the whole Brontë family. She pushed Emily to publish Wuthering Heights and took charge of their precarious finances when her feckless brother turned to opium. In Jane Eyre she introduced the world to a brand new kind of heroine, modelled on herself: quiet but fiercely intelligent, burning with passion and potential.

This is the definitive biography of one of Britain's best loved writers.

 Art & Literature Authors Cultural & Regional Women Biography

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Critic reviews

An extraordinary book, crammed with scholarship and glittering with trivia . . . Harman's book offers so many delights . . . This is a fantastic compendium
A shrewd but unstuffy critic, Harman's prose rings with good sense, affection and humour... [She] manages to be not only scholarly, but indecently entertaining.
Rich and colourful...Harman's book is a delight from beginning to end... This superb biography not only handles the familiar material with flair but goes further than previous biographies
All stars
Most relevant
Ever since my first visit to Haworth in 2016, I have become obsessed with the Brontë’s. This book does justice to the story of Charlotte, It will make you cry, their story is so sad but it will also make you proud of what was achieved in her too short life span. I have this book in paperback and have read it twice, it was nice to hear the author who has a clear voice read her words aloud. Totally recommend to all

A Heartfelt Book

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Until now I would have said that of all the Brontë biographies that I have read (and I have read many) Winifred Gerin's was hands down, the best. It is still very good and I would highly recommend it but Claire Harman's book is not only well researched and well written but also very readable and not at all dry or over academic. My one problem was the reading which was a bit flat and monosyllabic. An actor would have done the job better. Still I've only taken off one star.

Best Brontë biography I have read

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Thoroughly enjoyed this biography. Couldn’t stop listening at times. Clearly, Charlotte Brontë will always remain an enigma, but this is a very well researched book and a worthy alternative to Elizabeth Gaskell’s classic biography. Thank you Claire Harman. A very fine book.

A window into the life of Charlotte Brontë

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What did you like most about Charlotte Brontë?

The revealing information about how she and her siblings lived and coped. People often ask how they could write so imaginatively when so remote - but I think this book shows they had to make up a life for themselves to keep going

What other book might you compare Charlotte Brontë to, and why?

None at present

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Charlotte came back to Howarth after both Emily and then Ann had died - and the house seemed so lonely. Prior to that I was distressed at the violent side of Emily when she attacked their dog Awful

Any additional comments?

I did not like the way the narrator spoke - in a 'sticky' way so you could hear her lips sticking together Have always hated this!

BRONTE LIFE

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Most enjoyable scholarly book. Well researched and beautifully read. I shall recommend this book to my friends and all those who have read Charlotte Bronte's works.

biography of Charlotte Bronte

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