The Brontës' Christmas: The Festive Season in Georgian England

by Andrew Hubert von Staufer (Primary Contributor), Maria Hubert (editor)

Genres: Christmas

144 pages, Hardcover

Published August 26, 2025

Reviews

[Jaidee · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 "a charming pot pourri" stars !!

A ribbon of Excellence read for 2024

I so enjoyed this Christmas themed book. The editor provided some speculation and commentary on what Christmas would have been like for the Brontes. This was curated by providing excerpts and poetry by the Brontes themselves including a childhood story by Charlotte. There are passages from Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and Villette. There were passages of Charlotte's biography by Elizabeth Gaskell. Anonymous poetry as well as poems, letters and essays by Thackeray, Southey, Wordsworth. Also included are recipes and a brief history of greeting cards of the day. My favorite piece was a touching story by Gaskell that was included in a Christmas magazine of 1848. The story was entitled "Christmas Storms and Sunshine".

All in all a very enjoyable and festive reading experience.

Here is a poem written by Anne Bronte:

Music On Christmas Morning

Music I love—but never strain
Could kindle raptures so divine,
So grief assuage, so conquer pain,
And rouse this pensive heart of mine—
As that we hear on Christmas morn,
Upon the wintry breezes borne.

Though Darkness still her empire keep,
And hours must pass, ere morning break;
From troubled dreams, or slumbers deep,
That music KINDLY bids us wake:
It calls us, with an angel's voice,
To wake, and worship, and rejoice;

To greet with joy the glorious morn,
Which angels welcomed long ago,
When our redeeming Lord was born,
To bring the light of Heaven below;
The Powers of Darkness to dispel,
And rescue Earth from Death and Hell.

While listening to that sacred strain,
My raptured spirit soars on high;
I seem to hear those songs again
Resounding through the open sky,
That kindled such divine delight,
In those who watched their flocks by night.

With them I celebrate His birth—
Glory to God, in highest Heaven,
Good-will to men, and peace on earth,
To us a Saviour-king is given;
Our God is come to claim His own,
And Satan's power is overthrown!

A sinless God, for sinful men,
Descends to suffer and to bleed;
Hell MUST renounce its empire then;
The price is paid, the world is freed,
And Satan's self must now confess
That Christ has earned a RIGHT to bless:

Now holy Peace may smile from heaven,
And heavenly Truth from earth shall spring:
The captive's galling bonds are riven,
For our Redeemer is our king;
And He that gave his blood for men
Will lead us home to God again.

[Rhiannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Brontës' Christmas is an interesting anthology comprising of letters, extracts, recipes, and poems exploring Christmas in the mid-1800s and how the Brontës and their contemporaries would have celebrated. I learnt a lot from the sections that detailed local customs from Yorkshire, and I particularly enjoyed the fragment from Charlotte Brontë's unfinished novel. Some of the conjecture in the commentary didn't always sit right with me, but it was interesting enough to read Maria Hubert's thoughts on the subjects.

Thank you to The History Press for providing me with a free copy.

[Karen Kovacs · Rating 2 out of 5]

I must say I find the title of this book misleading because, as to how the Brontes spent Christmas, I’m hardly the wiser. But then little is known of that and in any case they probably didn’t celebrate it elaborately. The book was however full of interesting tidbits about how others spent the festivities.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A compact little anthology containing some extracts from the Brontës'works and other writers of the time.

Not the best, sadly. Inaccurate research (the Rev Brontë's mother was not Cornish) and one wild assumption (that, by today's standards, the Brontë girls would have been considered abused children!) very much made this a disappointment for me.

It was nice however to read the extract from Charlotte Brontë's unfinished manuscript.