Introduction:
There are various biographies of the Bronte sisters – Charlotte, Emily and Anne, the writers of classic novels such as Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. However, The Mother of the Brontes by Sharon Wright is the first one about their mother Maria and I found it very interesting because it shows her lively personality and what life was like during the Industrial Revolution.
Maria Branwell and Patrick Bronte:
Maria Branwell was born in Penzance, Cornwall, in 1783 and grew up there surrounded by family and friends. She was well educated and had an active social life. When she was 20 her cousin asked her to come to Yorkshire to help in a boarding school so she left, not knowing she would never return home.
There she met Irish curate Patrick Bronte who she fell in love with and he proposed at Kirkstall Abbey. She wrote him letters about her love for him and her zest for life, which are quoted in the book. After they married they lived at Thornton Parsonage, had 6 children and lots of friends. Patrick and Maria were also writers of articles and poems, a talent overshadowed later by their daughters.
They outgrew Thornton and moved to Haworth Parsonage instead. But then Maria died of cancer and Patrick was left a widower and his children lost their mother. Their lives afterwards were lonely and tragic.
Haworth Parsonage after Maria died:
The eldest 2 daughters died when they were children. Charlotte, Emily and Anne withdrew into themselves, wrote lots of stories and then bestselling novels. Their brother Branwell became an alcoholic and died, quickly followed by Emily and then Anne. Charlotte was left alone with her grieving father. She later married but died when pregnant with her first child. The Reverend Patrick Bronte outlived his whole family.
The Mother of the Brontes was very well researched and Maria is portrayed as lively, intelligent and maternal. She was devoted to her family and I wondered what their lives would have been like if she had lived long enough to watch them all grow up.
The author Sharon Wright is also a journalist and playwright. She comes from Bradford and lives in London. She joined the Bronte Society and decided Maria Bronte needed more attention so she wrote the book about her.
The Tourist Information section:
Haworth Parsonage is now a museum, preserved as it was when the Bronte family lived there. It overlooks the graveyard and is still separate from the rest of the village which has lots of tourists and souvenir shops. I have been there several times and on one of these visits we went for a walk in the snow along the Bronte Way to the site of Wuthering Heights and got very lost and very cold in a snowdrift.
catherinemhodson 