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Let Me In: The Brontës in Bricks and Mortar
Between wild walks, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë spent most of their lives indoors, their imaginations firing behind firmly-closed doors. Join two expert writers on a very personal journey around Britain and Ireland, enjoying privileged access to private houses that shaped and inspired the Brontë sisters and their writing.
Echoing Cathy’s ghost in Wuthering Heights, Ann and Sharon ask to be let in – and invite you on an eye-opening odyssey that combines the surprising Brontë history of key houses with their sometimes glorious, sometimes heartbreaking, always fascinating afterlives. Join Ann and Sharon as they explore historic buildings where the extraordinary Brontë story unfolded.
Discover the untold secrets of the world-famous Brontë Parsonage, Bradford’s literary shrine where they wrote their novels, and the nearby birthplace of their early childhoods. Learn of the ghosts and legends of the real Wuthering Heights, the legacy of Ulster and Cornwall in the sisters’ DNA, the restoration of the real Lowood School in Jane Eyre – and follow a Brontë pub crawl around the inns and taverns of Victorian England frequented by wayward brother Branwell.
The book includes a foreword by author and broadcaster Rebecca Fraser and an exclusive interview with award-winning writer and director Sally Wainwright, revealing how and why she built a replica of the 1840s Haworth Parsonage on the moors for her acclaimed BBC biopic To Walk Invisible.
This is a beautifully-illustrated voyage of discovery through the precious, often-overlooked places of our literary past – and why they matter today.
Echoing Cathy’s ghost in Wuthering Heights, Ann and Sharon ask to be let in – and invite you on an eye-opening odyssey that combines the surprising Brontë history of key houses with their sometimes glorious, sometimes heartbreaking, always fascinating afterlives. Join Ann and Sharon as they explore historic buildings where the extraordinary Brontë story unfolded.
Discover the untold secrets of the world-famous Brontë Parsonage, Bradford’s literary shrine where they wrote their novels, and the nearby birthplace of their early childhoods. Learn of the ghosts and legends of the real Wuthering Heights, the legacy of Ulster and Cornwall in the sisters’ DNA, the restoration of the real Lowood School in Jane Eyre – and follow a Brontë pub crawl around the inns and taverns of Victorian England frequented by wayward brother Branwell.
The book includes a foreword by author and broadcaster Rebecca Fraser and an exclusive interview with award-winning writer and director Sally Wainwright, revealing how and why she built a replica of the 1840s Haworth Parsonage on the moors for her acclaimed BBC biopic To Walk Invisible.
This is a beautifully-illustrated voyage of discovery through the precious, often-overlooked places of our literary past – and why they matter today.
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Published June 12, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 6, 2025
A magnificent and moving collection of photos and history with a personal touch from two people who live and breathe the Brontes: the Esteemed Curator herself, Ann Dinsdale (who is one of my absolute favorite people to listen to; I will always show up for her online events!); and Sharon Wright, journalist, biographer of the Brontes’ mother, and moving force behind the decision to finally get the Brontes’ name spelled right in Westminster Abbey last year. These ladies are rock stars of the Bronte world, and they use their professional connections to open the doors to many Bronte-adjacent spaces that are not on the usual tourist list.
September 26, 2025
This was a really marvellous book and I'd highly recommend it for anyone interested in the Brontes. I started off reading it a few entries at a time but I found myself speeding up and devouring it as it took me on a tour through the physical places and spaces associated with the Brontes' lives. A fantastic read - both informative and engaging.
July 30, 2025
I read this marvellous book slowly, a couple of chapters a night, in order to spin out the pleasure.
It is described as a voyage of discovery, and it’s certainly that. I learned so much, and so, it seems did the authors, who explore places associates with the lives and works of the Brontës, many of them not accessible to the public.
The authors are Sharon Wright, a prize-winning journalist who wrote the groundbreaking biography of Maria Branwell Brontë, the tragic mother of all those tragic geniuses; and Ann Dinsdale is the Principal Curator of the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
Some sites Brontë fans will be familiar with. I’m thinking of the Howarth Parsonage in particular, and the Black Bull pub, where Branwell often drank himself silly. But what about the other pubs Branwell patronised? The authors crawl (relatively soberly I think) to two other of his favourite bars in Howarth, as well as The Old Cock in Halifax and the Lord Nelson Inn in Luddenen.
They also report back from numerous houses now in private ownership. The Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge, the model for the deadly Lowood School in Jane Eyre, is now divided into two homes but retains some of the features that Charlotte would have seen. Everywhere that Sharon and Ann visit they bring personal anecdote, interesting flourishes that humanise and deepen the spaces. It is as if we are there with them. They never overwhelm with history or literature. It's a good read.
I have my favourite chapters, of course. I loved Sexton House in Haworth, where Tabitha and Martha Brown (who both worked as servants for the Brontës) lived with their four sisters. When I read the small detail of Patrick Brontë writing to Eliza, their unmarried sister who was working away from home, gently, lovingly break the news to her that her baby had died of scarlet fever, I wept.
The stand-out chapter for me, however, was Westminster Abbey, where a stone plaque remembering the Brontës was erected in 1939 in Poets’ Corner. Not only was it in a position where few will notice it, it was incorrect. There was no diaresis (the dots) over the E. That is, until 2024 when the fearless, unstoppable Sharon stepped in and insisted to the authorities that they put it right. (By the way, Sharon's description of the chilly reception she had at the Abbey as a researcher is a wonder of restraint.)
I loved, also, the visit to Emdale, County Down, where Patrick Brontë’s was born plain Patrick Prunty. There is almost nothing left of the stone cabin – literally, it is ruins – but it, and the story of how he acquired his diaresis at Cambridge, illustrates the dynamism of this: what they came from and where they went.
There is simply so much here to savour and enjoy. I will be re-reading it, and re-reading also my favourite Brontë works. The photographs are wonderful. The text lively.
It is described as a voyage of discovery, and it’s certainly that. I learned so much, and so, it seems did the authors, who explore places associates with the lives and works of the Brontës, many of them not accessible to the public.
The authors are Sharon Wright, a prize-winning journalist who wrote the groundbreaking biography of Maria Branwell Brontë, the tragic mother of all those tragic geniuses; and Ann Dinsdale is the Principal Curator of the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
Some sites Brontë fans will be familiar with. I’m thinking of the Howarth Parsonage in particular, and the Black Bull pub, where Branwell often drank himself silly. But what about the other pubs Branwell patronised? The authors crawl (relatively soberly I think) to two other of his favourite bars in Howarth, as well as The Old Cock in Halifax and the Lord Nelson Inn in Luddenen.
They also report back from numerous houses now in private ownership. The Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge, the model for the deadly Lowood School in Jane Eyre, is now divided into two homes but retains some of the features that Charlotte would have seen. Everywhere that Sharon and Ann visit they bring personal anecdote, interesting flourishes that humanise and deepen the spaces. It is as if we are there with them. They never overwhelm with history or literature. It's a good read.
I have my favourite chapters, of course. I loved Sexton House in Haworth, where Tabitha and Martha Brown (who both worked as servants for the Brontës) lived with their four sisters. When I read the small detail of Patrick Brontë writing to Eliza, their unmarried sister who was working away from home, gently, lovingly break the news to her that her baby had died of scarlet fever, I wept.
The stand-out chapter for me, however, was Westminster Abbey, where a stone plaque remembering the Brontës was erected in 1939 in Poets’ Corner. Not only was it in a position where few will notice it, it was incorrect. There was no diaresis (the dots) over the E. That is, until 2024 when the fearless, unstoppable Sharon stepped in and insisted to the authorities that they put it right. (By the way, Sharon's description of the chilly reception she had at the Abbey as a researcher is a wonder of restraint.)
I loved, also, the visit to Emdale, County Down, where Patrick Brontë’s was born plain Patrick Prunty. There is almost nothing left of the stone cabin – literally, it is ruins – but it, and the story of how he acquired his diaresis at Cambridge, illustrates the dynamism of this: what they came from and where they went.
There is simply so much here to savour and enjoy. I will be re-reading it, and re-reading also my favourite Brontë works. The photographs are wonderful. The text lively.
July 19, 2025
I have just finished reading the excellent book ‘Let Me In: The Brontës in Bricks and Mortar’ by Ann Dinsdale (the distinguished Principal Curator of the Brontë Parsonage) and Sharon Wright (the award-winning journalist, biographer of ‘Maria, Mother of the Brontës’ and Editor of the Brontë Society Gazette).
The book is a compendium of Brontë lore written by two experts in the field. Every tumble-down cottage and ancient building with connections to the family is listed; from Patrick Brontë’s humble beginnings in County Down to Thornfield Hall in ‘Jane Eyre’. This book is without doubt a must for all Brontë fans and one I will be re-reading for many years to come.
The book is a compendium of Brontë lore written by two experts in the field. Every tumble-down cottage and ancient building with connections to the family is listed; from Patrick Brontë’s humble beginnings in County Down to Thornfield Hall in ‘Jane Eyre’. This book is without doubt a must for all Brontë fans and one I will be re-reading for many years to come.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews