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This Dark Night: Emily Bronte, A Life
Deborah Lutz compellingly captures Emily Jane Brontë, extraordinary poet and author of the incomparable Wuthering Heights, with deep insight and glorious prose.
Emily Brontë (1818–1848) was only twenty-seven-years old when she began work on one of the most important novels in the English language. Two years later in 1847, she completed Wuthering Heights. It took the world almost a century to catch up to Brontë’s masterpiece, and it has taken even longer to know Brontë—an elusive figure, with a ghostly legacy provoked by her early death and the loss (and likely destruction) of almost all her personal papers.
Drawing on formerly inaccessible notebooks and manuscripts, This Dark Night constructs a portrait of Brontë, her famous writing sisters Charlotte and Anne, and the effect of their sisters’ and mother’s tragic deaths. In the first full-length biography in over twenty years, renowned scholar Deborah Lutz sketches the days of a woman crafting otherworldly fiction while running her father’s parsonage: writing interweaving with household work, daydreaming, and exploring the rough-hewn outdoors.
As she traces the influence of Brontë’s life and work, Lutz follows how Brontë’s fantastical early poems of the night sky, women rulers, and outsiders and rebels grew into the stormy, transcendent Wuthering Heights. Lutz also illuminates the overlooked ways that the legendary writer addressed debates of her time that still resonate today, including questions of gender and sexuality, race and class, and rapid industrialization set against the natural world.
From her menagerie of dogs and birds to the beloved moors that Brontë wandered and later emblazoned in her novel, Lutz depicts the passions of an author at odds with convention. Uniting the domestic and the cosmic, This Dark Night plumbs the life and writing of this idiosyncratic woman, dark soul, and monumental genius.
Emily Brontë (1818–1848) was only twenty-seven-years old when she began work on one of the most important novels in the English language. Two years later in 1847, she completed Wuthering Heights. It took the world almost a century to catch up to Brontë’s masterpiece, and it has taken even longer to know Brontë—an elusive figure, with a ghostly legacy provoked by her early death and the loss (and likely destruction) of almost all her personal papers.
Drawing on formerly inaccessible notebooks and manuscripts, This Dark Night constructs a portrait of Brontë, her famous writing sisters Charlotte and Anne, and the effect of their sisters’ and mother’s tragic deaths. In the first full-length biography in over twenty years, renowned scholar Deborah Lutz sketches the days of a woman crafting otherworldly fiction while running her father’s parsonage: writing interweaving with household work, daydreaming, and exploring the rough-hewn outdoors.
As she traces the influence of Brontë’s life and work, Lutz follows how Brontë’s fantastical early poems of the night sky, women rulers, and outsiders and rebels grew into the stormy, transcendent Wuthering Heights. Lutz also illuminates the overlooked ways that the legendary writer addressed debates of her time that still resonate today, including questions of gender and sexuality, race and class, and rapid industrialization set against the natural world.
From her menagerie of dogs and birds to the beloved moors that Brontë wandered and later emblazoned in her novel, Lutz depicts the passions of an author at odds with convention. Uniting the domestic and the cosmic, This Dark Night plumbs the life and writing of this idiosyncratic woman, dark soul, and monumental genius.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published May 5, 2026
About the author
Deborah Lutz
16 books72 followersDeborah Lutz is the Kelly Professor in Nineteenth-Century English and American Literature at Pennsylvania State University. A Guggenheim, Cullman, and NEH Fellow, she is the author of This Dark Night, The Brontë Cabinet, Pleasure Bound, and other works. Her writing has appeared in numerous journals, including the New York Times. She lives in Pennsylvania and New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
May 12, 2026
3.25 After reading Wuthering Heights and watching the BBC’s To Walk Invisible, I was eager to learn more about what kind of environment produced not one, but three, female authors in the 1800s. This biography breaks Emily’s life into chronological segments, offering a deep look at the Brontë family dynamic.
The author is transparent about how much of Emily’s personal work and history was destroyed, which is a detail that aligns with other accounts I’ve seen. However, because so much is missing from the historical record, I occasionally found myself questioning how certain specific details could be known. If you go into it keeping that in mind, it is an enjoyable and informative read. I actually wish I had read this before Wuthering Heights, as it sheds so much light on Emily’s creative choices and the overall atmosphere of her writing.
The author is transparent about how much of Emily’s personal work and history was destroyed, which is a detail that aligns with other accounts I’ve seen. However, because so much is missing from the historical record, I occasionally found myself questioning how certain specific details could be known. If you go into it keeping that in mind, it is an enjoyable and informative read. I actually wish I had read this before Wuthering Heights, as it sheds so much light on Emily’s creative choices and the overall atmosphere of her writing.
January 31, 2026
Absolute masterpiece. A lyrical, highly-researched and myth-busting must-read.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Sadly, this was not a particularly strong biography. I appreciate what Lutz was trying to achieve (an emotional resonance with Emily brought about through facts, probabilities, and poetic prose), but I didn’t really gel with this text. I like my non-fiction to be more exact, less fluffy, and with an academic tone. Because I didn’t get on well with the narrative style, it then made the book feel like a slog rather than a page turner. Love my girl Emily, but this biography just didn’t hit the mark. Juliet Barker’s work remains the most authoritative when it comes to the beloved Brontë sisters.
Kind thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my thoughts.
Kind thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my thoughts.
April 4, 2026
The was such a beautiful biography of Emily Brontë that I was left practically in tears by the end of it. Inspired by the TikTok trend, I’ve been embarking in a personal curriculum on Emily Brontë and Wuthering Heights. I found this book in my search for a book about her life that wasn’t 500+ pages. It’s hard to know a lot about Emily because so many of her papers were lost/destroyed. But this author did a wonderful job conveying the story of her life. I went into this book thinking I would have little in common with a moody Victorian woman living on the Yorkshire moors, but as I learned more about her life, I found more glimmers of Emily in myself than I would have ever expected. I highly recommend this book for fans of Wuthering Heights or anyone looking for a biography of a tragic, fascinating, genius unrecognized in her own time.
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April 26, 2026Anyone wanting to learn about the life of Emily Brontë is going to come up against an insuperable obstacle: there are just not nearly as many primary sources for her life as there are for her sister Charlotte. That means that biographies are not likely to really unearth any new facts, and so in a way there's not much to distinguish a biography of Emily from one of the many biographies of her family.
BUT, if you are a huge Emily Brontë fan and you really want a book focused on her, what you might appreciate about Deborah Lutz's new book is that she explores Emily's poetry by way of adding some depth to the biographical facts. And she does a creditable job in outlining this rather enigmatic woman without speculating *too* wildly.
I previously read Lutz's book, The Brontë Cabinet, and enjoyed it except for a few assumptions/interpretations that I questioned. The same caveats apply here.
Thanks to W W Norton for providing me with this advance copy via Netgalley.
BUT, if you are a huge Emily Brontë fan and you really want a book focused on her, what you might appreciate about Deborah Lutz's new book is that she explores Emily's poetry by way of adding some depth to the biographical facts. And she does a creditable job in outlining this rather enigmatic woman without speculating *too* wildly.
I previously read Lutz's book, The Brontë Cabinet, and enjoyed it except for a few assumptions/interpretations that I questioned. The same caveats apply here.
Thanks to W W Norton for providing me with this advance copy via Netgalley.
May 13, 2026
This is one of the most entertaining biographies I ever read, I am not a fun of biographies because I think you have to be very passionate about the subjects to really enjoy the detail that frequently abound in this type of books. Although this book is detailed and very well researched, I enjoyed the writing and the exploration of new aspects in the lives of the Bronte sisters, especially of Emily. Some of these were never brought to light so respectfully before. I would recommend this book even if you are not that into the Brontes, because the portraying of the historical context is amazing.
May 19, 2026
I really enjoyed this literary biography. From the very first well-chosen quotation, the author opens up Emily Bronte’s life in a beautiful way. It felt like sitting next to a friend who keeps looking up from their research to share some new and fascinating fact.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Thank you to Norton for providing me with an ARC of this release.
Since freshman year of high school, I've had a fascination with Wuthering Heights: memorizing and reciting passages, watching and endlessly critiquing film adaptations of it, reading literary criticism about it, fuming over what I perceive as misinterpretations of the text... yet somehow, I hadn't had an equivalent fixation with its author. I knew she was considered the "weirdest" of the Brontë sisters, and thus felt her to be a kindred spirit, but I never delved into biographical details.
Now, when I came across this release, I felt it was finally time to get deeper into my favorite book of all time, a book I reread at least once every year. What the book does best is situate all Brontë sisters within the context of the time period, in all its social and historical circumstances; there are times when the reader feels catapulted into the past, with its rich sensory details. The moors come to life, and make Wuthering Heights's setting feel even more organic and real--and besides that, Brussels and York, and other destinations that Emily explored with her sisters.
On the other hand, at times the speculative tone can feel intrusive or patronizing; the author frequently poses questions that the reader could ponder themselves, without her prompting or suggestion. It's written with the short attention span in mind, too, an issue that plagues much of modern media, with constant reminders of facts stated not more than a few pages before, like one of Emily's nicknames and who people such as Anne Lister were, or simply repetitive sentence structures.
Because of that, some aspects of Emily's identity weren't explored fully. One suggestion the author makes is both Charlotte's and Emily's queer proclivities, though the former's is only briefly alluded to; what might have been interesting is how they could have impacted Charlotte's later disavowal and censure/censorship of Emily's work after her death in the wake of Charlotte's growing literary success.
One of Emily's features I hadn't expected was how she literally kept house, in terms of finances and housework. The former is especially appreciated because the way that Emily is described by critics, her family, friends, and acquaintances, she can often be cast in a patronizing, even infantilizing light, surely due to her introversion and lack of regard for social conventions. The author maintains Emily's independence and agency throughout the biography, giving her full integrity, and awareness of her craft, besides.
Little details like her sense of humor, her love of doodling in her books, her preference for her own orthography... ultimately, her zeal and love of life and nature, and her observant personality, all shine through. The material and technical aspects of her craft also give more weight to the themes of her poetry and work in general; in modern times, the tactile aspect of writing is much neglected, in favor of convenience, but the author brings attention to the sisters' rather avant-garde ways of writing, using any material they could salvage or make a statement into, from fabric patterns to napkins. The Brontë family simply lived and breathed words and stories.
One thing that was puzzling, however, was the author's inconsistent attitude regarding the tension between femininity and masculinity, and how each manifested in the sisters. In one chapter, Charlotte's assumption of male alter egos in their worldbuilding is ambivalently compared to Anne's and Emily's embrace of female characters and femininity itself; then, Charlotte is described as being preoccupied with social expectations of women and even being "pretty". On a related note, Charlotte's and Emily's fascination with sadomasochistic and erotic themes is approached cautiously or apologetically, as if anticipating these to be contentious territory. It's ironic considering that Wuthering Heights was initially received as too "brutish"; Emily's more violent and even abusive leanings are not so much glossed over as not dwelled on too long, but this is the case for other details in the work as a whole; it may have benefited from more analysis in addition to biographical content, but perhaps that was beyond the intended scope of the book.
This Dark Night gave me a new orientation toward reading; contextualizing a work by learning and thinking about the author's life and the times they lived in makes reading that work much more immersive and fascinating. I'd love to have a look at the sources myself. I'm also eager to reread Emily's poetry now that I have more knowledge of its background; Gondal is a wide, intriguing world, even moreso with these specific details.
Since freshman year of high school, I've had a fascination with Wuthering Heights: memorizing and reciting passages, watching and endlessly critiquing film adaptations of it, reading literary criticism about it, fuming over what I perceive as misinterpretations of the text... yet somehow, I hadn't had an equivalent fixation with its author. I knew she was considered the "weirdest" of the Brontë sisters, and thus felt her to be a kindred spirit, but I never delved into biographical details.
Now, when I came across this release, I felt it was finally time to get deeper into my favorite book of all time, a book I reread at least once every year. What the book does best is situate all Brontë sisters within the context of the time period, in all its social and historical circumstances; there are times when the reader feels catapulted into the past, with its rich sensory details. The moors come to life, and make Wuthering Heights's setting feel even more organic and real--and besides that, Brussels and York, and other destinations that Emily explored with her sisters.
On the other hand, at times the speculative tone can feel intrusive or patronizing; the author frequently poses questions that the reader could ponder themselves, without her prompting or suggestion. It's written with the short attention span in mind, too, an issue that plagues much of modern media, with constant reminders of facts stated not more than a few pages before, like one of Emily's nicknames and who people such as Anne Lister were, or simply repetitive sentence structures.
Because of that, some aspects of Emily's identity weren't explored fully. One suggestion the author makes is both Charlotte's and Emily's queer proclivities, though the former's is only briefly alluded to; what might have been interesting is how they could have impacted Charlotte's later disavowal and censure/censorship of Emily's work after her death in the wake of Charlotte's growing literary success.
One of Emily's features I hadn't expected was how she literally kept house, in terms of finances and housework. The former is especially appreciated because the way that Emily is described by critics, her family, friends, and acquaintances, she can often be cast in a patronizing, even infantilizing light, surely due to her introversion and lack of regard for social conventions. The author maintains Emily's independence and agency throughout the biography, giving her full integrity, and awareness of her craft, besides.
Little details like her sense of humor, her love of doodling in her books, her preference for her own orthography... ultimately, her zeal and love of life and nature, and her observant personality, all shine through. The material and technical aspects of her craft also give more weight to the themes of her poetry and work in general; in modern times, the tactile aspect of writing is much neglected, in favor of convenience, but the author brings attention to the sisters' rather avant-garde ways of writing, using any material they could salvage or make a statement into, from fabric patterns to napkins. The Brontë family simply lived and breathed words and stories.
One thing that was puzzling, however, was the author's inconsistent attitude regarding the tension between femininity and masculinity, and how each manifested in the sisters. In one chapter, Charlotte's assumption of male alter egos in their worldbuilding is ambivalently compared to Anne's and Emily's embrace of female characters and femininity itself; then, Charlotte is described as being preoccupied with social expectations of women and even being "pretty". On a related note, Charlotte's and Emily's fascination with sadomasochistic and erotic themes is approached cautiously or apologetically, as if anticipating these to be contentious territory. It's ironic considering that Wuthering Heights was initially received as too "brutish"; Emily's more violent and even abusive leanings are not so much glossed over as not dwelled on too long, but this is the case for other details in the work as a whole; it may have benefited from more analysis in addition to biographical content, but perhaps that was beyond the intended scope of the book.
This Dark Night gave me a new orientation toward reading; contextualizing a work by learning and thinking about the author's life and the times they lived in makes reading that work much more immersive and fascinating. I'd love to have a look at the sources myself. I'm also eager to reread Emily's poetry now that I have more knowledge of its background; Gondal is a wide, intriguing world, even moreso with these specific details.
May 11, 2026
A gorgeous portrait of Emily Brontë, written in a lyrical and accessible prose style while bristling with (unobtrusive) citations to a vast body of research.
Always the most elusive of the Brontës, Emily has been unjustly portrayed as an odd social isolate incapable of coping with work or life, a portrait that had its roots in Elizabeth Gaskell's famous biography of Emily's older sister, Charlotte. While Gaskell's book established Emily as a stoic eccentric, it did little to explain how she came to be the author of Wuthering Heights, an intense psycho-sexual drama rooted in the Yorkshire landscape. Lutz, conversely, pays close attention to not only Brontë's childhood games and writing but also her early and profound losses of both her mother and two sisters (buried nearly directly under the family pew in the church where the father, Patrick, preached). In a characteristic passage, she describes how this pew was too short to fit the entire family without some members--usually Anne and Emily--having to sit turned away from the congregation. In Lutz's explanation, this becomes not a defiance of sociability but an effort to cope with the intense trauma of living in a death-infused environment.
One of the mysteries of the Brontë sisters is how three women in such remote geographical and literary circumstances could craft such brilliant fiction: Charlotte's Jane Eyre, Shirley, and Villette, Emily's Wuthering Heights, and Anne's too-often overlooked The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. But by turning to the previous generation and exploring the literary tastes and writing ambitions of their parents, Patrick Brontë and Maria Branwell, Lutz offers helpful context for both the feminist inclinations of the authors' novels and their immersion in the contemporary fiction of their day.
This is a gorgeous, long overdue account that examines Emily Brontë as a writer of landscape, and one of the author's minor strengths is her close attention to Yorkshire diction, with words like "flittermice" (a local term for bats) offering a sense of how place infuses Brontë's language in her choice of key terms like "wuthering."
Always the most elusive of the Brontës, Emily has been unjustly portrayed as an odd social isolate incapable of coping with work or life, a portrait that had its roots in Elizabeth Gaskell's famous biography of Emily's older sister, Charlotte. While Gaskell's book established Emily as a stoic eccentric, it did little to explain how she came to be the author of Wuthering Heights, an intense psycho-sexual drama rooted in the Yorkshire landscape. Lutz, conversely, pays close attention to not only Brontë's childhood games and writing but also her early and profound losses of both her mother and two sisters (buried nearly directly under the family pew in the church where the father, Patrick, preached). In a characteristic passage, she describes how this pew was too short to fit the entire family without some members--usually Anne and Emily--having to sit turned away from the congregation. In Lutz's explanation, this becomes not a defiance of sociability but an effort to cope with the intense trauma of living in a death-infused environment.
One of the mysteries of the Brontë sisters is how three women in such remote geographical and literary circumstances could craft such brilliant fiction: Charlotte's Jane Eyre, Shirley, and Villette, Emily's Wuthering Heights, and Anne's too-often overlooked The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. But by turning to the previous generation and exploring the literary tastes and writing ambitions of their parents, Patrick Brontë and Maria Branwell, Lutz offers helpful context for both the feminist inclinations of the authors' novels and their immersion in the contemporary fiction of their day.
This is a gorgeous, long overdue account that examines Emily Brontë as a writer of landscape, and one of the author's minor strengths is her close attention to Yorkshire diction, with words like "flittermice" (a local term for bats) offering a sense of how place infuses Brontë's language in her choice of key terms like "wuthering."
May 14, 2026
When I received This Dark Night (a biography of Emily Bronte), I was wondering how my reading and reviewing it was going to play out. You see, I am one of the three people left on the planet, who has never read any books by any of the Brontes (not Emily nor Charlotte or even Anne), so I wasn't sure if I would even understand any of the references that the book would inevitably make to Wuthering Heights, or Jane Eyre or Agnes Grey. I needn't have worried. In some ways I have been given a gift. Because when I go to read the aforementioned books, I will know exactly what inspired them, informed them, and breathed life into them. The author, Deborah Lutz, does a magnificent job of painstakingly dissecting Emily's life (and those of her siblings), while doing so in a way that does not feel like a textbook or an entry in an encyclopedia. Instead, the reader feels like yet another sibling, walking the moors or sitting by the fireside; a passive observer taking everything in, there but not seen. To that end, what a life she had! For a woman who spent a good deal of her life sitting and writing, I was still exhausted at the end of each chapter. So many tasks, so many responsibilities, so many expectations (many of them by Emily, on herself), and so much death! It's a wonder that people's brains didn't implode from the stress of it all. Even just adjusting to the constant cold and wind and dampness, and never being quite warm enough or dry enough, or in the case of food, not quite full enough. Emily Bronte used nature in quite the same way as one today uses a smartphone, as a distraction from self and the relentless pressure to be other than what one is. Interspersed throughout the book are snippets of Emily's poems and of her novel. I thought, "Well I don't know if Emily's writing appeals to me. It seems so fraught and melodramatic." But that was her life! And her sibling's lives as well! She wrote, in many ways, what she knew. If you are a fan of the Brontes, or even if you are just interested in the time period in which they lived, I cannot recommend this book enough. A beautiful biography, beautifully rendered. ** I received this book for free from the publisher, but all views are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I'll admit I got a little misty towards the end of this portrait of Emily Bronte's life and family, as she neared death and eventually succumbed to her illness, leaving behind bereft sisters, one of which died 5 months later. Poor Charlotte.
The Brontes continue to mesmerize me (and obviously others) I think mostly for their March-like upbringing. One can read a book like Middlemarch or Pride & Prejudice and have a strong vision of what life was for women of the Victorian era. But then you read of the Brontes, free to read, write, learn and roam the moors without inhibition. A protofeminist upbringing similar to that of the March sisters.
Emily in particular is so fascinating because she was the middle sister, the goth sister, the black sheep. Tall, thin, lanky, and seemingly obsessed with death and the afterlife, most likely because of her mother's early death. Many try to label her as autistic, anorexic/bulimic, antisocial, weird. And with what I'm about to say it's important to understand much of Emily is unknown because most of her writings were lost or burned, but at many times I felt like I was reading a portrait of myself. A kindred spirit. Quiet and shy yet commanding and strong-willed, a deep adoration for animals, walking and observing the natural world, a fascination with death and the afterlife, and a strong desire to stay home with her loved ones, belongings, and pets.
This Dark Night provides as thorough of a fleshed out vision of Emily as I can imagine is possible. The writing itself felt "info-dumpy" at times, but I appreciated the in-depth annotations that indicate where Lutz got her information. I've already what I can from my library and Link+ to check out myself. The addition of color photos was lovely. I feel like I learned a lot about my favorite Bronte, and feel quite fascinated by the details revealed about Charlotte - many of which has caused me to like her less! Was that intentional, or is it just the facts? I don't know!!! To be continued.
The Brontes continue to mesmerize me (and obviously others) I think mostly for their March-like upbringing. One can read a book like Middlemarch or Pride & Prejudice and have a strong vision of what life was for women of the Victorian era. But then you read of the Brontes, free to read, write, learn and roam the moors without inhibition. A protofeminist upbringing similar to that of the March sisters.
Emily in particular is so fascinating because she was the middle sister, the goth sister, the black sheep. Tall, thin, lanky, and seemingly obsessed with death and the afterlife, most likely because of her mother's early death. Many try to label her as autistic, anorexic/bulimic, antisocial, weird. And with what I'm about to say it's important to understand much of Emily is unknown because most of her writings were lost or burned, but at many times I felt like I was reading a portrait of myself. A kindred spirit. Quiet and shy yet commanding and strong-willed, a deep adoration for animals, walking and observing the natural world, a fascination with death and the afterlife, and a strong desire to stay home with her loved ones, belongings, and pets.
This Dark Night provides as thorough of a fleshed out vision of Emily as I can imagine is possible. The writing itself felt "info-dumpy" at times, but I appreciated the in-depth annotations that indicate where Lutz got her information. I've already what I can from my library and Link+ to check out myself. The addition of color photos was lovely. I feel like I learned a lot about my favorite Bronte, and feel quite fascinated by the details revealed about Charlotte - many of which has caused me to like her less! Was that intentional, or is it just the facts? I don't know!!! To be continued.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Coarse, strange, disagreeable went the general consensus–too gloomy, savage, and eccentric. from This Dark Night
“It’s as if her readers hadn’t caught up with her yet,” Deborah Lutz writes, “It would take close to a hundred years for that to happen.”
Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights grew out of the Bronte siblings’ years of story spinning. The isolated children were each other’s best friends and playmates and spent years creating a make believe world. Even into adulthood, Emily lived in two worlds–the everyday filled with household chores, and the imagined world of Gondor. She wrote poems inspired by the characters and incidents in that make believe place.
Emily may have had only one year of formal schooling, but she was brilliant, and she was brave and fearless. She was drawn to nature and animals, inspired by both beauty and the power of destruction.
All of those years of world-building had finally come to fruition. from This Dark Night
Her novel of passion, obsession, and violence can still shock today.
The child Heathcliff, “dark almost as if it came from the devil”, clearly foreign, referred to as an ‘it’. His adopted father’s favorite, upon the father’s death he is relegated to low servanthood by the heir. Heathcliff and Cathy share a wildness, but Cathy is seduced into polite society and marriage to another. Heathcliff’s spurned love and rejection fuels his vengeance and retribution.
After Emily’s death, the sole surviving sibling Charlotte edited and revised Wuthering Heights, twisting it into conformity. She also changed Emily’s poems, undercutting “their doubting nature.”
Emily’s life was short, and the bulk of her work was related to the Gondor world. All of the Bronte sisters died too young, and we regret the books they may have written. Charlotte was the most popular selling of them all, but after reading this biography, it is Emily who I regret the most.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.
“It’s as if her readers hadn’t caught up with her yet,” Deborah Lutz writes, “It would take close to a hundred years for that to happen.”
Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights grew out of the Bronte siblings’ years of story spinning. The isolated children were each other’s best friends and playmates and spent years creating a make believe world. Even into adulthood, Emily lived in two worlds–the everyday filled with household chores, and the imagined world of Gondor. She wrote poems inspired by the characters and incidents in that make believe place.
Emily may have had only one year of formal schooling, but she was brilliant, and she was brave and fearless. She was drawn to nature and animals, inspired by both beauty and the power of destruction.
All of those years of world-building had finally come to fruition. from This Dark Night
Her novel of passion, obsession, and violence can still shock today.
The child Heathcliff, “dark almost as if it came from the devil”, clearly foreign, referred to as an ‘it’. His adopted father’s favorite, upon the father’s death he is relegated to low servanthood by the heir. Heathcliff and Cathy share a wildness, but Cathy is seduced into polite society and marriage to another. Heathcliff’s spurned love and rejection fuels his vengeance and retribution.
After Emily’s death, the sole surviving sibling Charlotte edited and revised Wuthering Heights, twisting it into conformity. She also changed Emily’s poems, undercutting “their doubting nature.”
Emily’s life was short, and the bulk of her work was related to the Gondor world. All of the Bronte sisters died too young, and we regret the books they may have written. Charlotte was the most popular selling of them all, but after reading this biography, it is Emily who I regret the most.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Ah, the Brontës. They are proof that genius can grow in truly chaotic environments. Or maybe genius grew because of the chaos. Chicken or the egg, I suppose. In This Dark Night by Deborah Lutz, we get to focus on Emily Brontë who gave us a lot of poetry and Wuthering Heights. Like Jane Eyre, it is one of those books they told you to read in high school and you probably pretended to read it for the book report. Later, you come back to it as an adult and realize, damn, this lady was good.
Lutz tells a chronological biography which is almost a slow process of piecing together what would become Wuthering Heights. For the uninitiated, almost everyone dies early. No, I don't mean the novel; I mean the family. Emily herself wrote Wuthering Heights at age 27 and would be dead by 30. If that is a spoiler to you, I think this book is not for you. I wouldn't call this an introductory level book to the Brontës. This is more for people familiar with the general outlines of the family. This is not at all a criticism but merely expectation-setting.
Lutz's writing style is easy to follow and infused with a love for the family and the work produced by them. If I were to level a criticism or two, I would first admit this is purely my perspective, but I think Lutz is way too hard on Charlotte, while being way too easy on Emily and their father. Branwell is treated exactly as he should be. That said, my criticisms should not in any way ward you off of the book. Lutz's perspective is completely valid (no duh, how nice of me to admit to someone who spent so much time researching while I didn't), but hey, this is my review, and I get to make grand pronouncements! Anyway, if you know the Brontës and want to know more, pick this one up.
(This book was provided as an advanced reader copy by NetGalley and W. W. Norton.)
Lutz tells a chronological biography which is almost a slow process of piecing together what would become Wuthering Heights. For the uninitiated, almost everyone dies early. No, I don't mean the novel; I mean the family. Emily herself wrote Wuthering Heights at age 27 and would be dead by 30. If that is a spoiler to you, I think this book is not for you. I wouldn't call this an introductory level book to the Brontës. This is more for people familiar with the general outlines of the family. This is not at all a criticism but merely expectation-setting.
Lutz's writing style is easy to follow and infused with a love for the family and the work produced by them. If I were to level a criticism or two, I would first admit this is purely my perspective, but I think Lutz is way too hard on Charlotte, while being way too easy on Emily and their father. Branwell is treated exactly as he should be. That said, my criticisms should not in any way ward you off of the book. Lutz's perspective is completely valid (no duh, how nice of me to admit to someone who spent so much time researching while I didn't), but hey, this is my review, and I get to make grand pronouncements! Anyway, if you know the Brontës and want to know more, pick this one up.
(This book was provided as an advanced reader copy by NetGalley and W. W. Norton.)
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A big thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape media for the advanced copy.
Medium: Audiobook
My thoughts
In short: This is a very interesting book about a very interesting individual. I really enjoy reading biographies about writers. It's inspiring to read how the people whose works we admire lived, loved, and worked. This book went into a lot of detail about the life of Emily Brontë. The Brontë sisters are three of the most enduringly popular authors of the past couple of hundred years. This book goes into a lot of detail on the early years of the family as well as their juvenilia, which was a very interesting thing to learn about for someone like me, who had little idea about any of it.
The book is told almost like a story, instead of a more barebones nonfiction account. We get descriptions of the places and situations that shaped Emily's stories as well as those of her sisters'. It all felt like a fittingly tragic tale of familial love, loss, and the creative need that exists in people.
Interestingly, one of the more interesting things I picked up from this book is how to nurture curiosity and creativity in kids. Patrick and Maria Brontë managed to raise four kids that were deeply creative children who all chose to go into the arts and even publish their work at a time when it would have been near impossible to do so.
I have rated this book 4 out of 5 stars mostly because some parts dragged for me and some details felt largely unnecessary to the larger narrative of Emily's life.
In general, I deeply appreciated the new knowledge I got from this book and I am now looking forward to reading and rereading the works of all three sisters.
Medium: Audiobook
My thoughts
In short: This is a very interesting book about a very interesting individual. I really enjoy reading biographies about writers. It's inspiring to read how the people whose works we admire lived, loved, and worked. This book went into a lot of detail about the life of Emily Brontë. The Brontë sisters are three of the most enduringly popular authors of the past couple of hundred years. This book goes into a lot of detail on the early years of the family as well as their juvenilia, which was a very interesting thing to learn about for someone like me, who had little idea about any of it.
The book is told almost like a story, instead of a more barebones nonfiction account. We get descriptions of the places and situations that shaped Emily's stories as well as those of her sisters'. It all felt like a fittingly tragic tale of familial love, loss, and the creative need that exists in people.
Interestingly, one of the more interesting things I picked up from this book is how to nurture curiosity and creativity in kids. Patrick and Maria Brontë managed to raise four kids that were deeply creative children who all chose to go into the arts and even publish their work at a time when it would have been near impossible to do so.
I have rated this book 4 out of 5 stars mostly because some parts dragged for me and some details felt largely unnecessary to the larger narrative of Emily's life.
In general, I deeply appreciated the new knowledge I got from this book and I am now looking forward to reading and rereading the works of all three sisters.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Audio ARC provided by NetGalley
I first began to suspect this would not be as well researched and thought out as I would wish when Elizabeth Gaskell's Biography of Charlotte Bronte was quoted as a source at the beginning of the book. For reference, Gaskell's account was almost entirely fictional, exaggerated and the rest misunderstood. Gaskell and Charlotte weren't even especially close friends so she was an odd choice for a biographer.
That aside, this book falls afoul of the limitations all such Bronte biographies face - very little is known about Emily. Unless tge paucity of the record is remedied with the sudden discovery of a treasure trove of new documents, there is little for the Bronte scholar to go on.
Considering the blatant and easily disprovable or at least contentitious errors Luft falls into, I was astonished to discover that not only was this not her first biography, but not even her first work on the Brontes. Needless to say I won't be reading any of her other works.
Branwell Bronte was a fantasist. There is no evidence which does not originate from his account to suggest that Lydia Robinson had an affair with him. Despite this, Luft has swallowed it whole and fabricated other affairs Robinson is supposed to have had before Branwell, for which there is even less evidence. She suggests Wuthering Heights inspired Jane Eyre which is laughable. Various other fabrications and inaccuracies riddle the book. Overall thin supposition and outright invention propped up by a few well known facts which seem to have been largely misunderstood. Give this a miss and read Juliet Barker's excellent 'The Brontes' instead.
I first began to suspect this would not be as well researched and thought out as I would wish when Elizabeth Gaskell's Biography of Charlotte Bronte was quoted as a source at the beginning of the book. For reference, Gaskell's account was almost entirely fictional, exaggerated and the rest misunderstood. Gaskell and Charlotte weren't even especially close friends so she was an odd choice for a biographer.
That aside, this book falls afoul of the limitations all such Bronte biographies face - very little is known about Emily. Unless tge paucity of the record is remedied with the sudden discovery of a treasure trove of new documents, there is little for the Bronte scholar to go on.
Considering the blatant and easily disprovable or at least contentitious errors Luft falls into, I was astonished to discover that not only was this not her first biography, but not even her first work on the Brontes. Needless to say I won't be reading any of her other works.
Branwell Bronte was a fantasist. There is no evidence which does not originate from his account to suggest that Lydia Robinson had an affair with him. Despite this, Luft has swallowed it whole and fabricated other affairs Robinson is supposed to have had before Branwell, for which there is even less evidence. She suggests Wuthering Heights inspired Jane Eyre which is laughable. Various other fabrications and inaccuracies riddle the book. Overall thin supposition and outright invention propped up by a few well known facts which seem to have been largely misunderstood. Give this a miss and read Juliet Barker's excellent 'The Brontes' instead.
May 5, 2026
Thank you NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for the ARC of Deborah Lutz's "This Dark Night."
There have been many biographies of the Brontes and studies written about their books. Because of this, it's very easy for a new book to come across as unoriginal. This is not the case with Deborah Lutz's brilliant study of Emily Bronte in "This Dark Night." Lutz explores the childhoods of all of the Bronte children (six, all told). She highlights the profound influence their mother Maria had on all of the children despite her early death: her love of literature and art, and her political and charitable views. She considers the effect the deaths of the two oldest sisters may have had on the surviving children, and how much the wild Yorkshire landscape influenced the sisters' writing, Emily especially.
Deborah Lutz examines the development of Emily Bronte's writing, from her first childhood stories written in the fictional world of Gondal, to her mature poetry and the creation of her one novel "Wuthering Heights." Interspersed with treks across the moors and writing were the minute details of Emily's home life. She is the daughter that longed for home the most while she was away at school, and once she returned, she never left, apart from brief trips. Her death at the age of thirty, soon after her brother Branwell's death, and followed swiftly by her sister Anne's (her closest sibling), left a void in the Bronte household, as though the very soul of the house had departed, and with it the probability of other literary gems that Emily's pen might have written.
There have been many biographies of the Brontes and studies written about their books. Because of this, it's very easy for a new book to come across as unoriginal. This is not the case with Deborah Lutz's brilliant study of Emily Bronte in "This Dark Night." Lutz explores the childhoods of all of the Bronte children (six, all told). She highlights the profound influence their mother Maria had on all of the children despite her early death: her love of literature and art, and her political and charitable views. She considers the effect the deaths of the two oldest sisters may have had on the surviving children, and how much the wild Yorkshire landscape influenced the sisters' writing, Emily especially.
Deborah Lutz examines the development of Emily Bronte's writing, from her first childhood stories written in the fictional world of Gondal, to her mature poetry and the creation of her one novel "Wuthering Heights." Interspersed with treks across the moors and writing were the minute details of Emily's home life. She is the daughter that longed for home the most while she was away at school, and once she returned, she never left, apart from brief trips. Her death at the age of thirty, soon after her brother Branwell's death, and followed swiftly by her sister Anne's (her closest sibling), left a void in the Bronte household, as though the very soul of the house had departed, and with it the probability of other literary gems that Emily's pen might have written.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
With gratitude to Dreamscape Media, and Deborah Lutz for this ALC.
What a pleasure it was to let Christine Rendel’s expressive narration draw me into Deborah Lutz’s meticulously researched and deeply insightful portrait of Emily Brontë. “This Dark Night” listens like a journey back in time, evoking a nostalgia for memories not our own but Emily’s.
Lutz renders Brontë as remarkably relatable: eccentric, introverted, a sensitive soul who lived, created, and felt with rare intensity. She was life-affirming and strong-willed, like a wildflower in a landscaped garden, modern in her thinking and living for her era, yet almost morbidly drawn to the beauty of death, her imagination fixed on nature and mortality, her life marked by loss from its earliest chapters.
The scenes are immersive and diligently detailed, giving us a full-angled portrait of Brontë’s world without the romanticism so often draped over the Victorian era. Lutz resists hagiography. We receive insights not only through what may have been Emily’s inner world, but through the perspectives of her sisters and those closest to her. References to “Wuthering Heights” resurface throughout, illuminating the novel’s possible roots in Emily’s own experience.
Graceful, observant, and empowering. Highly recommended.
What a pleasure it was to let Christine Rendel’s expressive narration draw me into Deborah Lutz’s meticulously researched and deeply insightful portrait of Emily Brontë. “This Dark Night” listens like a journey back in time, evoking a nostalgia for memories not our own but Emily’s.
Lutz renders Brontë as remarkably relatable: eccentric, introverted, a sensitive soul who lived, created, and felt with rare intensity. She was life-affirming and strong-willed, like a wildflower in a landscaped garden, modern in her thinking and living for her era, yet almost morbidly drawn to the beauty of death, her imagination fixed on nature and mortality, her life marked by loss from its earliest chapters.
The scenes are immersive and diligently detailed, giving us a full-angled portrait of Brontë’s world without the romanticism so often draped over the Victorian era. Lutz resists hagiography. We receive insights not only through what may have been Emily’s inner world, but through the perspectives of her sisters and those closest to her. References to “Wuthering Heights” resurface throughout, illuminating the novel’s possible roots in Emily’s own experience.
Graceful, observant, and empowering. Highly recommended.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I’ve been fascinated by the Brontë sisters for a while now, and will happily read both fiction and non-fiction about them as individuals, but this just wasn’t for me. There is a great deal of background narrative: about the house, the weather, the location of their home. And I would have been delighted to read a fictionalised version of this book about Emily’s life, but it felt jarring to find this level of creative license in a biography.
In addition to this, great chunks of opinion and speculation removed any integrity to the idea of this being non-fiction at all. The moment that lost me was the strange statement that Jane Eyre was inspired by Wuthering Heights. No sources I can find have claimed this, and no sources are cited in this book. Surely, we can only say this for sure with a letter or journal from Charlotte herself.
I’m disappointed. There is clearly a lot of research and a great deal of effort ploughed into this book, but when writing about a real historical figure, it seems obvious to be able to back up your information, and to not cloud it with opinions or imagined and poetic scenarios.
In addition to this, great chunks of opinion and speculation removed any integrity to the idea of this being non-fiction at all. The moment that lost me was the strange statement that Jane Eyre was inspired by Wuthering Heights. No sources I can find have claimed this, and no sources are cited in this book. Surely, we can only say this for sure with a letter or journal from Charlotte herself.
I’m disappointed. There is clearly a lot of research and a great deal of effort ploughed into this book, but when writing about a real historical figure, it seems obvious to be able to back up your information, and to not cloud it with opinions or imagined and poetic scenarios.
May 7, 2026
What stayed with me most in This Dark Night was the way Deborah Lutz places Emily Brontë’s inner life beside the physical routines of the parsonage without reducing either one. The book keeps returning to that tension between domestic repetition and imaginative vastness. One moment Emily is surrounded by household duties, dogs, birds, and the rhythms of family life, and the next her writing opens into storms, rebellion, and cosmic loneliness.
I especially appreciated how the biography traces connections between Brontë’s juvenilia, her fascination with outsiders, and the emotional architecture of Wuthering Heights rather than treating the novel like an isolated miracle. The use of notebooks and surviving manuscripts gives the narrative a feeling of careful reconstruction, always aware of how much has been lost.
Readers who enjoy literary biography that pays close attention to atmosphere, creative process, and intellectual history will find a great deal here. By the end, Emily Brontë feels neither mythologized nor diminished, only more strange and human at once.
I especially appreciated how the biography traces connections between Brontë’s juvenilia, her fascination with outsiders, and the emotional architecture of Wuthering Heights rather than treating the novel like an isolated miracle. The use of notebooks and surviving manuscripts gives the narrative a feeling of careful reconstruction, always aware of how much has been lost.
Readers who enjoy literary biography that pays close attention to atmosphere, creative process, and intellectual history will find a great deal here. By the end, Emily Brontë feels neither mythologized nor diminished, only more strange and human at once.
May 9, 2026
I enjoyed this and felt immersed in Emily’s world.
The problems with a biography such as this are the lack of source materials. Many letters and manuscripts went missing after (or before?) Emily’s death, including the manuscript of a second novel she was working on. The author also relies heavily on the use of “perhaps”, “probably”, “possibly” and “presumably” to fill in gaps where hard facts are missing.
However, this is a nicely textured book full of domestic, meteorological, geographical and local information pieced together to create an overall picture of how Emily lived her life.
The author does a good job of bringing Emily to life on the page - I felt it was very readable. There is a good amount of discussion of her poetry and Wuthering Heights, as well as other available documents such as the remaining diary entries and letters.
I particularly loved hearing about her childhood and all five of her siblings. Though it was a life full of loss, there was also much joy in pets, nature and of course her writing.
The problems with a biography such as this are the lack of source materials. Many letters and manuscripts went missing after (or before?) Emily’s death, including the manuscript of a second novel she was working on. The author also relies heavily on the use of “perhaps”, “probably”, “possibly” and “presumably” to fill in gaps where hard facts are missing.
However, this is a nicely textured book full of domestic, meteorological, geographical and local information pieced together to create an overall picture of how Emily lived her life.
The author does a good job of bringing Emily to life on the page - I felt it was very readable. There is a good amount of discussion of her poetry and Wuthering Heights, as well as other available documents such as the remaining diary entries and letters.
I particularly loved hearing about her childhood and all five of her siblings. Though it was a life full of loss, there was also much joy in pets, nature and of course her writing.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I think I struggled with this being a “biography” but if you take into account the limited primary resources on Emily Bronte and take it with a grain of salt, the book itself was really good. Realizing how many of her notes and letters were destroyed means that every author would either have to leave a lot out of take some liberties and personally, I’d like authors to try to connect the dots.
The writing style was really poetic and romantic, leaning into the flowy style of Bronte herself. Lutz tells a chronological biography which is almost a slow process of piecing together what would become Wuthering Heights.
Overall, I say give this one a chance and as people are leaning back into the Bronte sisters with the resurgence of Wuthering Heights, this one definitely hits the mark.
3.5 rounded down
This Dark Night is due to be published May 5, 2026 and I received an advanced copy from Netgalley in exchange for my review.
The writing style was really poetic and romantic, leaning into the flowy style of Bronte herself. Lutz tells a chronological biography which is almost a slow process of piecing together what would become Wuthering Heights.
Overall, I say give this one a chance and as people are leaning back into the Bronte sisters with the resurgence of Wuthering Heights, this one definitely hits the mark.
3.5 rounded down
This Dark Night is due to be published May 5, 2026 and I received an advanced copy from Netgalley in exchange for my review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is the second book by Deborah Lutz that I have read, so I was very excited when I was given the chance to review this. Not only am I a huge Emily Brontë fan, but I knew it would be written well.
This biography looks at the life of Emily Brontë but unlike a lot of biographies in general it goes deeper than just known facts and tells us what the weather was like at times and what else was happening in and around Haworth. This gives this book fantastic depth.
I enjoyed the structure of this book, it seemed to flow very nicely as we followed Emily through her life.
It would have been nice to maybe see more images in the book however, such as views of Haworth, the Brontë parsonage, maybe some of Emily’s belongings. But this certainly does not detract from the book.
I recommend this to any Brontë enthusiast, or people just coming across the wonderful Wuthering Heights novel.
This biography looks at the life of Emily Brontë but unlike a lot of biographies in general it goes deeper than just known facts and tells us what the weather was like at times and what else was happening in and around Haworth. This gives this book fantastic depth.
I enjoyed the structure of this book, it seemed to flow very nicely as we followed Emily through her life.
It would have been nice to maybe see more images in the book however, such as views of Haworth, the Brontë parsonage, maybe some of Emily’s belongings. But this certainly does not detract from the book.
I recommend this to any Brontë enthusiast, or people just coming across the wonderful Wuthering Heights novel.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I have a confession: I've never read anything by any of the Brontë brood. Yet, one raised in the English-speaking West doesn't really need to, with how widespread and persistent their influence is. This book claims to centre on Emily, author of the everlasting "Wuthering Heights." But this is a biographical tale woven through the lives of her family, including her equally famous sisters. The level of detail and care here is astounding. I was riveted, even though I know next to nothing about this family. It's incredible what Emily and the rest got up to in their short time on earth, at that time in history, especially as women.
The cover is gorgeous and "wrought" as well.
Christine Rendel narrates with aplomb. I was utterly captivated.
Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape media for the advance copy of the audiobook.
The cover is gorgeous and "wrought" as well.
Christine Rendel narrates with aplomb. I was utterly captivated.
Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape media for the advance copy of the audiobook.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
An intimate portrait of the life of Emily Brontë and her siblings and a look at how the environment and moors shaped her just as much as her family.
A favorite quote of mine is from Virginia Woolf talking about Emily Brontë, where she says, “It is as if she [Brontë] could tear up all that we know human beings by, and fill these unrecognizable transparencies with such a gust of life that they transcend reality. Hers, then, is the rarest of all powers. She could free life from its dependence on facts; with a few touches indicate the spirit of a face so that it needs no body; by speaking of the moor make the wind blow and the thunder roar.”
I’ve always loved the idea of a personality and a gift so strong that it could control the elements and this biography solidifies my belief in what Woolf says - she could make the wind blow and the thunder roar.
e-arc provided by Netgalley ❤️
A favorite quote of mine is from Virginia Woolf talking about Emily Brontë, where she says, “It is as if she [Brontë] could tear up all that we know human beings by, and fill these unrecognizable transparencies with such a gust of life that they transcend reality. Hers, then, is the rarest of all powers. She could free life from its dependence on facts; with a few touches indicate the spirit of a face so that it needs no body; by speaking of the moor make the wind blow and the thunder roar.”
I’ve always loved the idea of a personality and a gift so strong that it could control the elements and this biography solidifies my belief in what Woolf says - she could make the wind blow and the thunder roar.
e-arc provided by Netgalley ❤️
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
While an overall mysterious character, Lutz's novel gives us a beautiful glimpse into Emily Bronte's life. 'This Dark Night' details Emily's (as well as her three siblings') writing practices, family life, publishing difficulties, and societal constraints of the time. It offers context into what led to one of the greatest literary behemoths, 'Wuthering Heights.'
Reading this was an absolute joy. As this is a review of the audiobook, however, there is one major complaint I have. When discussing Emily's particular spelling practices, I wish these portions could have been verbally spelled out for us. It's impossible to tell how Emily's spelling differed from the norm when the audiobook merely repeats the word.
Thank you, NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, for letting me read this early!
Reading this was an absolute joy. As this is a review of the audiobook, however, there is one major complaint I have. When discussing Emily's particular spelling practices, I wish these portions could have been verbally spelled out for us. It's impossible to tell how Emily's spelling differed from the norm when the audiobook merely repeats the word.
Thank you, NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, for letting me read this early!
May 9, 2026
It's a thick book detailing Emily Bronte's life and I started off reading the book and was immersed in the descriptive language and loveliness of the history unfolding of the family, their community, their home, and the creativity of all of the girls including Emily. Then I had put it down for a few days before Netgalley had the audio version so I decided to finish it up as an audiobook that is just as compelling with the atmospheric description of the moors to the relationships between the siblings as they succumbed to illness and death one by one being buried beneath the church in a haunting repetition throughout the story.
Elegantly researched and presented I would highly recommend it for anyone wanting to get a detailed version of the Brontes' life with the shining light on Emily.
Elegantly researched and presented I would highly recommend it for anyone wanting to get a detailed version of the Brontes' life with the shining light on Emily.
May 15, 2026
“It’s as if her readers hadn’t caught up with her yet,” Deborah Lutz writes, “It would take close to a hundred years for that to happen.”
I found the cover of this book and the idea of this book so intriguing! I however, struggled with this biography. My mind kept wandering and I felt like I trudging through the dark inky bog Lutz mentioned in the first chapter, distracted by weird sensations, smells, and things to look at. Never really landing where I needed to be to be fully in touch with the story.
I think, although this audio was very well done, I think I would preferred this as an actual book or e-book.
✨3.5 stars rounded down.
Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for this audio arc. This Dark Night came out May 5, 2026.
I found the cover of this book and the idea of this book so intriguing! I however, struggled with this biography. My mind kept wandering and I felt like I trudging through the dark inky bog Lutz mentioned in the first chapter, distracted by weird sensations, smells, and things to look at. Never really landing where I needed to be to be fully in touch with the story.
I think, although this audio was very well done, I think I would preferred this as an actual book or e-book.
✨3.5 stars rounded down.
Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for this audio arc. This Dark Night came out May 5, 2026.
May 20, 2026
Thank you NetGalley and RBMedia for the ARC!
Lutz traces Emily Brontë's life—from her parents' backgrounds up to her death.
If you are an avid fan of Emily,and want to know every detail there is to know about her, including what she tended to eat for breakfast (porridge), then this is the book for you. As an averagely interested reader, I at times found portions a bit over-detailed and tedious. However, I really enjoyed how Lutz drew parallels between Emily's experiences and her writing. At first I didn't realize when the narrator was quoting Emily, so it took a little bit for me to catch on to the rhythm of the book. Also, the narrator speaks with a British accent—most likely to immerse the reader in Emily's experience (she lived in England), but it did make some words more difficult to recognize. In general, I enjoyed the book and hope to read Wuthering Heights soon!
Lutz traces Emily Brontë's life—from her parents' backgrounds up to her death.
If you are an avid fan of Emily,and want to know every detail there is to know about her, including what she tended to eat for breakfast (porridge), then this is the book for you. As an averagely interested reader, I at times found portions a bit over-detailed and tedious. However, I really enjoyed how Lutz drew parallels between Emily's experiences and her writing. At first I didn't realize when the narrator was quoting Emily, so it took a little bit for me to catch on to the rhythm of the book. Also, the narrator speaks with a British accent—most likely to immerse the reader in Emily's experience (she lived in England), but it did make some words more difficult to recognize. In general, I enjoyed the book and hope to read Wuthering Heights soon!
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
This review is based on an advance copy.
This biography did give me a better feel for Emily's personality and put her work in the context of her life and time. However, it trended more to a literary analysis at the expense of not fleshing out details of her life. Interesting biographical details were mentioned in passing but Lutz didn't seem to dig into these or do any of her own research, relying instead on other Brontë biographies.
This biography did give me a better feel for Emily's personality and put her work in the context of her life and time. However, it trended more to a literary analysis at the expense of not fleshing out details of her life. Interesting biographical details were mentioned in passing but Lutz didn't seem to dig into these or do any of her own research, relying instead on other Brontë biographies.
May 4, 2026
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC audio of this book!
I wish more details were know about Emily Bronte's life, but despite that, I do think Deborah Lutz did a good job piecing what little we know together & not embellishing outlandishly, to weave an accurate story of her life and their life as a family. I learned details about Emily's life that I didn't know, and particularly enjoyed finding out she was an animal lover. She has always been the sister that resonated the most with me, and now, even more so in light of this detail I hadn't previously known. An admirable job on this novel.
I wish more details were know about Emily Bronte's life, but despite that, I do think Deborah Lutz did a good job piecing what little we know together & not embellishing outlandishly, to weave an accurate story of her life and their life as a family. I learned details about Emily's life that I didn't know, and particularly enjoyed finding out she was an animal lover. She has always been the sister that resonated the most with me, and now, even more so in light of this detail I hadn't previously known. An admirable job on this novel.
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