The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James

Summary and review:

This "secret diary" of Charlotte Bronte follows her romance with Arthur Bell Nicholls. Nicholls was the Brontes' next door neighbor. He worked under her father as the curate of tiny Haworth village for eight years before expressing his love to Charlotte and giving her an offer of marriage. The near-decade that spanned the time between Charlotte's first meeting with Mr. Nicholls and his proposal saw Charlotte evolve from an imaginative spinster to a celebrated writer.

I thought the book started roughly. I didn't buy the idea that these characters were living in a tiny parish in Victorian England. The language seemed stilted and overly formal, yet it was peppered at times with modern-sounding phrases that were completely out-of-place in the dialog. For example, in one scene, Charlotte and Emily are angry with one another. "You cannot stay angry with me for ever," says Charlotte, to which Emily replies, "Watch me."

"Watch me?" Umm, I'm sorry, but I just don't think that Charlotte and Emily Bronte spoke like 21st Century eight-year-olds. So that bothered me. I also didn't like the fact that the "diaries" weren't written in a diary format. The style is more of a narrative than a diary. Charlotte begins the novel by addressing "Diary," but there aren't individual entries; it's as if she's recounting the entire story in two or three sittings.

I did, however, think that the story, if not riveting, was interesting. Syrie James based the plot around letters written by and about Charlotte Bronte and the other characters mentioned. Although the dialog was fabricated and much is conjecture, from what I can tell the story is relatively true to history. It was interesting to learn about the sources of inspiration for the Bronte novels. The lives of the Brontes were tragic, and while reading I realized that I knew very little about Charlotte or her sisters. I admit that formerly I had a difficult time keeping track of the three sisters and remembering which one was which. Having read this book, I feel like I know them better; I doubt I will be confusing them in the future.

Charlotte's romance with Mr. Nicholls is unusual; it was definitely not the sweeping, passionate love affair found in Jane Eyre or Wurthering Heights. It was different from what I expect in a romance and interesting because of it.

I would have liked to know more about Charlotte's early life; actually, I would have liked to know more about the life of all three sisters, Emily in particular. Although her life seems to lack the romance which Charlotte experienced, Emily Bronte is perhaps the most fascinating of the sisters. I've read Wurthering Heights twice times, and each time I was more disturbed by it. What were the circumstances that produced a woman who, coming from the strict, sternly religious upbringing in the rigid Victorian age, could write such a sordid, passionate and disturbing story full of horror, violence, and illicit love?

I also would have liked more more description of the village and the moors. The moors played such a huge part in the Bronte novels, but I never really felt their presence in this book. Haworth as portrayed by Syrie James felt like a bland one-size-fits-all English village.

Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books, and I approached this novel hesitantly. I didn't want to read something silly or talentless that merely coasted off of the popularity of Jane Eyre (Aside: I feel that most of the modern novels based on Jane Austen and her writing fall under this description). I wasn't expecting a true biography, and I didn't get it. I thought that most if not all of the romantic scenes were silly and would have been embarrassing for Charlotte Bronte to have read. However, I did end up liking this book much more than I expected, much more than I did when I first began to read. I imagined that Charlotte Bronte lived a cloistered life akin to that of Emily Dickinson; however her experiences were much more far-reaching than I knew. I'm looking forward to reading Jane Eyre again, and I'm also planning to venture out to Charlotte Bronte's other works and will be looking up some actual biographies written about her. ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ (5/10)

Content:

Blood and gore: N/A

Sex: Very mild innuendos

Language: N/A