The Bronte Sisters' Search For Love (U)

by Dilys Gater

Dilys Gater sets out to show that the Brontes' behaviour and their books resulted from their deprivation of love. The loss of their mother and two elder sisters, combined with the absence of any affection from Mr Bronte, turned them into emotional cripples who were yet able to transform their unhappiness into great literature. Why did the heroines of the Bronte novels crave so painfully for love? There are innumerable books on the Brontes, but INWARD TEMPEST does have something new to say.

368 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1997

Reviews

[M-n · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well now, what can I saw. It was like reading a thesis about a good idea , but then needed padding to fil out a book. There are so many examples. She claimed that the family were over religious , her Aunt and Father but we must remember all Victorians who were respectable were religious like that , not just the Brontes, we also must remember that their father was the local Pastor. The author uses 14 pages up on childhood development, instead of discussing the children and their development problems individually with a sentence or too. Even though she wrote this in 1984 she mentions birth trauma etc. which I dint think was in vogue until the 2000's.
She constantly bemoaned no physical affection for the children yet they had each other and would always hold hands or entwine waists, they had two teenage housemaids when they were young who were very affectionate to them. They also had their eldest sister called Little mother. There is no evidence that the eldest sister hated her mother and was in love with her father, she died young too. Her thesis on what made the Bronte's writers doesn't hold water as an awful lot of Victorians went through the same.
I did learn a few new facts about them but over all especially going on and on about the mothers death didn't appeal.
If you had never read anything about the Brontes it might be a speed read for you.

[Michael John Paul McManus · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a very interesting read. I've only recently started reading the works of the Bronte sisters and picked up this book from my local library book sale for 50p.
A fascinating insight into not only Charlotte, Emily and Anne's lives but also their brother Branwell and their two elder sisters, Maria and Elizabeth. A sad fact that none of the children had any love from their parents, their mother, Maria died young after having six children in rapid succession, and Patrick, their father, who did not have time for them except to teach them and allow them to read and write as much as they wanted. An excellent in depth study of three of the most famous female authors ever.

[Clair Davis · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Bronte Sisters Search For Love... DNF 30%

Just long winded, not what I thought it was gonna be.