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Crave the Rose: Anne Brontë at 200
2020 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Anne Brontë, the youngest of the famed Brontë sisters. Only now is she gaining recognition as a great writer in her own right, and her novels Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall deserve to stand alongside those of Charlotte and Emily Brontë.
Crave the Rose: Anne Brontë At 200 takes a fresh look at Anne Brontë, revealing a woman whose work was more radical than that of her sisters, and which is therefore as relevant today as it has ever been. Alongside a biography of Anne's remarkable, but tragically short, life it contains a comprehensive selection of first-person encounters with the Brontës from 19th century newspapers and archives, giving a fresh insight into the real character of Anne and her family. Also contained exclusively within this landmark book is a newly discovered essay by Anne Brontë – never before seen in print, they are probably the last words that she ever wrote.
Crave the Rose: Anne Brontë At 200 takes a fresh look at Anne Brontë, revealing a woman whose work was more radical than that of her sisters, and which is therefore as relevant today as it has ever been. Alongside a biography of Anne's remarkable, but tragically short, life it contains a comprehensive selection of first-person encounters with the Brontës from 19th century newspapers and archives, giving a fresh insight into the real character of Anne and her family. Also contained exclusively within this landmark book is a newly discovered essay by Anne Brontë – never before seen in print, they are probably the last words that she ever wrote.
272 pages, Paperback
Published January 2, 2020
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74 people want to read
About the author
Nick Holland
16 books27 followersNick Holland was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire and went to University in Huddersfield and, later, San Diego.
Whilst living in the USA he developed a love of the books of Raymond Chandler and after returning to England decided to write a hard boiled thriller of his own, but set in Yorkshire. Thus 'The Girl On The Bus' was born. The Girl On The Bus has become a Kindle sensation, at point being the 5th most downloaded book in the United Kingdom and regularly featuring in the Amazon top 100 paid bestsellers!
A follow up to The Girl On The Bus will be released in Summer 2013.
Nick loves tortoises and was shocked to find only one children's novel about them: 'Esio Trot' by Roald Dahl. Taking matters into his own hands he wrote 'Tortoise Soup', a delightful story of friendship and bravery aimed at children aged 8-108. So now there are two quality children's books about tortoises.
Nick Holland has also written award winning poetry and his play 'Rudisha' was performed in London in 2012 to coincide with the Olympic games.
He is a also a ventriloquist, can you guess what his puppet is? That's right - it's a tortoise!
Whilst living in the USA he developed a love of the books of Raymond Chandler and after returning to England decided to write a hard boiled thriller of his own, but set in Yorkshire. Thus 'The Girl On The Bus' was born. The Girl On The Bus has become a Kindle sensation, at point being the 5th most downloaded book in the United Kingdom and regularly featuring in the Amazon top 100 paid bestsellers!
A follow up to The Girl On The Bus will be released in Summer 2013.
Nick loves tortoises and was shocked to find only one children's novel about them: 'Esio Trot' by Roald Dahl. Taking matters into his own hands he wrote 'Tortoise Soup', a delightful story of friendship and bravery aimed at children aged 8-108. So now there are two quality children's books about tortoises.
Nick Holland has also written award winning poetry and his play 'Rudisha' was performed in London in 2012 to coincide with the Olympic games.
He is a also a ventriloquist, can you guess what his puppet is? That's right - it's a tortoise!
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 10, 2021
Good read, wish there was more info, but I don't think there's that much info out there to be had about Anne Bronte. One interesting section of this book is at the end. The author has collected tales of first person interactions with the Bronte family, a couple of which may have not been in book form before.
January 23, 2020
I am fairly sceptical about authors who claim to have found ‘new’ material, and so much has been written on the Brontes recently - not least by this author - that I wondered if there was anything new to be said when I heard that this book was coming out to mark the 200th anniversary of Anne Brontes birth. The blurb on the back of this book claims to offer us ‘what may be the last words Anne Bronte ever wrote’ (I am always more receptive to authors to acknowledge uncertainty) and so I was intrigued enough to pre order.
The first half of this book gives us a, by now well established biography of Anne, there is little new here but it’s a story Nick Holland tells well and with passion. The second half of the book though is where the real interest for me lay. This is divided into two sections, one that deals with the possibility that Anne wrote an essay after Emily’s death and before her own, her ‘last words’ and the other that contains snippets of recollections by people who lived in Haworth and knew/encountered the Brontes. These sections were fascinating and offered a new perspective on both Anne and her family in general. I’d encountered some of the references before in my own research but having them placed together in this way helped contextualise the often personal snippets of information and memories offered.
As to the last words, which are printed here, the authors argument is compelling as is his analysis of what they may mean for our understanding Anne’s character, bringing something new to the study of Anne Bronte.
All in all I enjoyed this book very much and it is a deserving addition to the growing body of literature that is helping bring the ‘forgotten’ Bronte sister, deservedly, to the fore.
The first half of this book gives us a, by now well established biography of Anne, there is little new here but it’s a story Nick Holland tells well and with passion. The second half of the book though is where the real interest for me lay. This is divided into two sections, one that deals with the possibility that Anne wrote an essay after Emily’s death and before her own, her ‘last words’ and the other that contains snippets of recollections by people who lived in Haworth and knew/encountered the Brontes. These sections were fascinating and offered a new perspective on both Anne and her family in general. I’d encountered some of the references before in my own research but having them placed together in this way helped contextualise the often personal snippets of information and memories offered.
As to the last words, which are printed here, the authors argument is compelling as is his analysis of what they may mean for our understanding Anne’s character, bringing something new to the study of Anne Bronte.
All in all I enjoyed this book very much and it is a deserving addition to the growing body of literature that is helping bring the ‘forgotten’ Bronte sister, deservedly, to the fore.
July 1, 2020
After reading this fabulous biography, I can conclude that Anne Bronte was the strongest of all Brontes. She was gentle, but also had strong convictions and a positive attitude. Even while facing her untimely death, she accepts her fate with grace and positivity that her life on earth prepared her for her eternal life. I appreciate how Holland puts a poem of Anne before a chapter. I have never read Anne's poetry, and was fascinated by how tender and strong the poems were. It was very sad reading the love poems that were based on William Weightman. Oh, what could have been! Before Anne died, she believed that she contributed nothing to the world. How wrong she was. 200 years later, we cannot stop reading anything by or about her. She was and continues to be an inspiring woman.
July 8, 2020
What a beautiful biography of Anne. Holland's devotion to the often overlooked Brontë shows a genuine appreciation of her genius and enduring contribution to female-authored literature. It's a short read, and is most notable for the newly discovered essay (which is fascinating if only far too short at 2,000 words) and the lovely selection of first-person accounts of Brontë memories at the close of the book.
My first edition from this year does contain a number of typos (e.g. 'widow' for 'widower' and Anne's Roe Head medal is dated as 1846 instead of 1836), but I'm sure they'll be amended upon further printings. :)
In all, this was a delight to read.
My first edition from this year does contain a number of typos (e.g. 'widow' for 'widower' and Anne's Roe Head medal is dated as 1846 instead of 1836), but I'm sure they'll be amended upon further printings. :)
In all, this was a delight to read.
June 9, 2021
Not a great biography or literary analysis. It also seems like the author quite literally did not have an editor to correct his sentence structure and punctuation. There were comma splices everywhere and it bothered me much more coming from a nonfiction piece. 🤢
March 9, 2022
I always love a bit of Brontë content - but I was slightly put off by the author frequently putting forward his own theories as fact. The style of writing wasn’t really for me. Well researched though!
May 2, 2021
A beautifully written book. The best that I have read about Anne Bronte.
May 31, 2022
This is a beautifully written book and very readable portraying the life of Anne Brontë and has urged me to read Agnes Grey
July 8, 2022
Could get a little tedious when it strayed from Anne, but it was interesting overall.
October 10, 2020
Not another Brontë biography? Some of you may cry (though not me). No, not quite. Crave the Rose by Nick Holland celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Anne Brontë on 17 January 1820, and is not just a straightforward biography of the youngest Brontë sibling. The book is divided into three parts.
The first is a brief biography of Anne from her birth to her death and, even though it is only brief, it is still a very good read. It is obvious that Nick has a lot of knowledge and respect for Anne and indeed, all the Brontë’s. I was particularly struck with the chapter about her love for William Weightman. This has been mentioned in other biographies of the Brontë’s but not with such pathos. Anne left behind her thoughts and feelings about her love and then loss of William, in her poetry and her first novel the semi-autobiographical, Agnes Grey.
Anne was unable to live in Haworth and be near to William because she was forced to leave and find work as a governess. So much time was wasted; if she had been able to support herself or find work nearer to home they would have been able to get to know each other much better and, William may well have proposed. Although, if Anne and William did marry would she still have become a writer or, would the world have been deprived of Agnes and Helen?
Anne was also away from home when her beloved Aunt Branwell died. In Aunt Branwell, Nick has discovered a caring, funny and generous woman devoted to her nephew and nieces and who was particularly fond of snuff. She is not the aloof, priggish and strict aunt portrayed by Elizabeth Gaskell and subsequently, future biographers. Poor Aunt Branwell, she has been disgracefully maligned in the past but thankfully, Nick puts these wrong descriptions to rest.
The early death of Anne Brontë is tragic for a number of reasons. She was at the beginning of a successful writing career and finally found something she loved doing, which would make money thus keeping her at home. With her second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, she found her voice and the writing is strong and confident. No one reading this novel can ever accuse her of being timid, shy or forgettable. Her religious beliefs which she stuck to until death, her search for knowledge and the answers to questions on theology and nature, in my opinion, show she was far more intelligent than her sisters. Forgettable and insignificant are not words used to describe Anne Brontë.
The second part of the book is entitled The Search for Anne Brontë’s Last Words. This was fascinating and not at all what I was expecting. The last written words of Anne Brontë took the form of dialogue between character S and character C (science and church possibly). This essay is intelligently written and worthy of the great Professor Brian Cox himself. Her knowledge and passion for geology, theology, biology and physics is staggering. This essay has enhanced my respect for this young woman. We can only imagine what she would have made of Charles Darwin and On the Origin of Species. If she had been born a few decades later and attended university, she would have been the Jane Harrison of the science world. This only makes it even more sad and more of a loss that she didn’t live longer to complete a third novel. She possessed a remarkable talent that had so much potential that was cut short.
The third and final section is entitled, Brontë Encounters. This is a lovely little section of written accounts of the Brontë’s by those who knew and met them. There is a wonderful piece by Dr T P Brown who conducted a phrenological study on Charlotte in 1851. This study is extremely revealing about Charlotte’s personality and her intellect.
I enjoyed this book so much I read it in three days and have pre-ordered Nick’s next Brontë book about the friendship of Charlotte and Ellen Nussey.
Crave the Rose is a tribute that Anne truly deserves, and I cannot praise it enough.
The first is a brief biography of Anne from her birth to her death and, even though it is only brief, it is still a very good read. It is obvious that Nick has a lot of knowledge and respect for Anne and indeed, all the Brontë’s. I was particularly struck with the chapter about her love for William Weightman. This has been mentioned in other biographies of the Brontë’s but not with such pathos. Anne left behind her thoughts and feelings about her love and then loss of William, in her poetry and her first novel the semi-autobiographical, Agnes Grey.
Anne was unable to live in Haworth and be near to William because she was forced to leave and find work as a governess. So much time was wasted; if she had been able to support herself or find work nearer to home they would have been able to get to know each other much better and, William may well have proposed. Although, if Anne and William did marry would she still have become a writer or, would the world have been deprived of Agnes and Helen?
Anne was also away from home when her beloved Aunt Branwell died. In Aunt Branwell, Nick has discovered a caring, funny and generous woman devoted to her nephew and nieces and who was particularly fond of snuff. She is not the aloof, priggish and strict aunt portrayed by Elizabeth Gaskell and subsequently, future biographers. Poor Aunt Branwell, she has been disgracefully maligned in the past but thankfully, Nick puts these wrong descriptions to rest.
The early death of Anne Brontë is tragic for a number of reasons. She was at the beginning of a successful writing career and finally found something she loved doing, which would make money thus keeping her at home. With her second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, she found her voice and the writing is strong and confident. No one reading this novel can ever accuse her of being timid, shy or forgettable. Her religious beliefs which she stuck to until death, her search for knowledge and the answers to questions on theology and nature, in my opinion, show she was far more intelligent than her sisters. Forgettable and insignificant are not words used to describe Anne Brontë.
The second part of the book is entitled The Search for Anne Brontë’s Last Words. This was fascinating and not at all what I was expecting. The last written words of Anne Brontë took the form of dialogue between character S and character C (science and church possibly). This essay is intelligently written and worthy of the great Professor Brian Cox himself. Her knowledge and passion for geology, theology, biology and physics is staggering. This essay has enhanced my respect for this young woman. We can only imagine what she would have made of Charles Darwin and On the Origin of Species. If she had been born a few decades later and attended university, she would have been the Jane Harrison of the science world. This only makes it even more sad and more of a loss that she didn’t live longer to complete a third novel. She possessed a remarkable talent that had so much potential that was cut short.
The third and final section is entitled, Brontë Encounters. This is a lovely little section of written accounts of the Brontë’s by those who knew and met them. There is a wonderful piece by Dr T P Brown who conducted a phrenological study on Charlotte in 1851. This study is extremely revealing about Charlotte’s personality and her intellect.
I enjoyed this book so much I read it in three days and have pre-ordered Nick’s next Brontë book about the friendship of Charlotte and Ellen Nussey.
Crave the Rose is a tribute that Anne truly deserves, and I cannot praise it enough.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews