Nearly one hundred and seventy years have passed since Charlotte Brontë took her last breath, but astonishingly, witnesses to her life still survive. These were present as she penned the first lines of Jane Eyre, as she walked the cobbled streets of Haworth with her sisters, as she dined with William Makepeace Thackeray at his home in London or as she joined Arthur Bell Nicholls at the altar in the summer of 1854. Yet, powerful as their stories are, their testimonies have remained unheard until today.
In this meticulously researched biography, Dr Eleanor Houghton rummages through Charlotte Brontë's closet, examining her clothing as witnesses to her life and revealing never before known secrets that bring the famous author to life. Readers are introduced to more than Charlotte Brontë the author, they are presented to her as a daughter, a sister, a wife, and simply, as a woman. Myths are shattered, long-held preconceptions challenged, and a real, raw, three-dimensional woman is recalled to life.
