This is a non-fiction book, part biography of Elizabeth Branwell, part analysis of the context of the Brontë family. I found it an easy read, written accessibly, but also not quite sure where it was aimed. Did it want to give the reader insight into who this woman was, or did it want to focus on her more famous niblings? It felt like it didn't focus enough on giving a sense of Elizabeth Branwell herself, instead delving a bit too far into speculation of who was whose favourite aunt/niece, which came across rather unscientific. It was an ok read, but not one I'd recommend.

Really interesting and cleverly written book, I love anything to do with the Bronte's being a Yorkshire lass so I was really keen on reading this one and it didn't disappoint.
I learnt a lot from this book, it's well researched and very enjoyable., even though I did feel that the pacing was a little slow at times and that certain chapters felt a little long-winded and could have got away with them being a little shorter but overall enjoyable.
Definitely recommended for any reader who loves the Bronte's

Nick Holland's work is well-written, informative, and enlightening. I admit, before reading this book, I had not given much thought to the role that Elizabeth Branwell truly fulfilled in the Bronte household and the influence she had on their writing careers. Holland provides insight into the household and into Elizabeth's mindset with the very little left directly from her own words; the use of historical relevance to the time period, descriptions from others, and the reference points that reflect her in the lives of her nieces and nephew. I truly enjoyed this book and have already recommended it to many of my fellow English lit major friends and colleagues. I think anyone interested in the time period, as Holland provides great information into what was happening in England during the life of Branwell, would also find this book highly enjoyable and informative.
Though reviewed rather late due to health concerns on my part, I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the egalley in exchange for my honest review.

As a fan of the Brontes, I was happy to read this book about their aunt and how she influenced their lives. Their aunt is usually shown to be cruel to her neices. However, in this biography she was actually a kind woman that loved her nieces and did everything she could to help them succeed. This, this was a eye-opening biography that changed my mind about Elizabeth and made me question Gaskell’s biography. I recommend this for fans of the Brontes and Romantic writers.

I liked this book. I wasn't sure if I would, because of the obscure subject matter, but I really did - The perspective was very light, the facts seemed reliable, and the story (life?) engrossing. This would be an enjoyable read for any Bronte or history fan!

The Bronte family has been the subject of many stories. The siblings all have had detailed stories, both fiction and non- fiction. Now their aunt, Elizabeth Branwell, has her own story. When a supporting character becomes the center of the story, it is the skill of the author that brings them to life. Nick Holland has done a fine job with Aunt Branwell who became the main parental figure for the Bronte siblings when their mother, Elizabeth's sister Maria, died. Background information on the sisters Branwell's childhood helps set the tone when the story moves to Yorkshire. The book is very interesting whether you are a Bronte fan or not. It easily pulls the reader into 1820's England, giving you the real feel of this time and age.

I loved that the author chose to write this biography on the woman who raised the famous Bronte children after the death of their mother. Much has been written about the family, but little about the woman who raised them. This was an interesting read and offered unique information about this family!

Aunt Branwell and the Brontë Legacy
by Nick Holland
Pen & Sword

Pen and Sword History
Biographies & Memoirs , History
Pub Date 30 Sep 2018



I am reviewing Aunt Branwell and the Bronte Legacy through Pen & Sword and Netgalley:


Elizabeth Branwell was born in Penzance in 1770 she was the member of a large and influential Cornish Family Of merchants and property owners. Her life change in 1821 when her sister Maria became very sick. Leaving the comfort of her home she made the long journey north to a remote moorland village in Yorkshire to care for her sister. After her sister's death Elizabeth took on the role of Mother to Maria's five nieces and nephew. She would never again set foot in Cornwall, instead she dedicated her life to the Bronte's to whom she was known as Aunt Branwell.


In this book we see the impact she had on Charlotte, Emily and Anne as well as her nephew Branwell Bronte who found himself spiraling control away from her calming influence.


I give Aunt Branwwll and the Bronte Legacy five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

I have read a few books about the Brontë family and thought I would read this one thinking it would be interesting to find out more about Aunt Branwell the lady who brought up the Brontë children after their mother's death. I have to say I was a bit disappointed in this book as it is more of a basic story of the family and a couple of chapters at the end about Aunt Branwells side of the family. Sorry but lf you are wanting to learn more about the maternal side of the family you won't find anything new here.

Are you a Brontë fan? Do you already know a little about them and want to find out more? Then Nick Holland’s book about their Aunt Branwell, published by Pen and Sword, is definitely worth a read. In this short but informative exploration of Elizabeth Branwell’s life and connections, we learn about her influence upon the lives of her sister’s children: Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell.

Having read several Brontë novels, studied them at university, visited Haworth and read a biography of Charlotte, I couldn’t fail to be interested in this new angle on Brontë history. To be honest, I’d never given Elizabeth much thought, but this book demonstrated what a strong, supportive woman she was. If she hadn’t stepped into the lives of her nieces and nephew after their mother’s death, it’s likely we wouldn’t have heard of them today. The book is mainly chronological (I say mainly, because sometimes references are made to later events), starting with the Branwell family history and putting together a picture of Elizabeth’s youth in Penzance, Cornwall. We then move hundreds of miles north with her as she becomes part of Parsonage life. Later, her legacy is explored and her descendants are traced. I learned many new things, which is always my aim when reading non-fiction.

While I really enjoyed the content of this book, I thought that the sentences could have been better constructed. It’s the kind of thing I notice, unfortunately. There were many points in the writing where I thought, ‘this needs to be rephrased’ or ‘when you say ‘she’, which of the two women are you referring to?’ or ‘you’ve used ‘also’ twice in this sentence’. This was my first ARC requested from NetGalley, so I’m not sure whether copies have already gone through proofreading before they are provided for reviewers. I couldn’t help noticing the misplaced apostrophes which kept turning up – if you’re talking about something belonging to the Brontës as a plural, the apostrophe has to be after the ‘s’. Sorry to sound like the grammar police, but I expect published writers (or at least their editors or proofreaders) to know how to use apostrophes.

Anyway, that aside, I did like this book and I would recommend it if you want to gain more insight into this famous literary family. It’s worth noting that Elizabeth Branwell left no letters or diaries behind, so Nick Holland does an excellent job of pulling other sources together to create a portrait of her.

E-book provided by Pen and Sword via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Publication date: 30th September 2018.

There are many biographies about the Bronte family, yet their maternal aunt, Elizabeth Branwell, has remained a shadowy figure. This book aims to shed light on her contribution to the family and her role in nuturing and supporting the endeavours and literary talents of her young nieces and nephew.

This is the third book about the Bronte family that I have read this year and it was by far the most enjoyable. Breathing new life into the well-trodden area of biographies about this amazing family, the author has done a wonderful job in bringing Elizabeth Branwell to life from the scant information available. The book is well-researched and the author has an engaging writing style which draws the reader in.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers, Pen and Sword History, for the opportunity to review an ARC.

In my memories, family trips to the Brontë parsonage in Haworth, West Yorkshire, always took place on gloomy days. The venue looked sinister; a building built so close to a cemetery full of gravestones and memorials which lurched unevenly towards the living. The weather always seemed damp and dreary, and the moor appeared unending to my young eyes. The atmosphere inside felt no better. Branwell Brontë’s famous painting hung, if I recall, on the stairs. His attempts to paint himself out made him look like a foreboding spirit hovering behind his sisters. And, of course, there’s the tragic history of a man outliving his entire family, including his children. I knew Anne died in a different location, but I don’t think I properly realized that every other member of the family died in that house.

That includes Aunt Elizabeth Branwell, the subject of Nick Holland’s newest Brontë biography. Not much has been previously been published about the hidden woman behind the Brontë sisters’ writings. Aunt Branwell and the Brontë Legacy is quite possibly the first biography about her. She left no writings of her own, so we must rely on what has been written about her. Holland refers often to Elizabeth Gaskell’s biography of Charlotte Brontë, arguing that Gaskell unfairly portrayed her as a hard and unloving woman. He gives examples of how she can be seen in the characters the sisters created in their novels, as both an aunt and a mother figure.

Holland begins with a description of Aunt Branwell’s youth in Penzance, Cornwall. This will be of particular interest to fans of Poldark, which is set around the time of Elizabeth Branwell’s birth in the same area. We get an interesting look at the heritage of Cornwall, with particular regard to its culture and folklore. It’s thought that the sisters incorporated into their writing aspects of the myths they heard from their aunt. There are many differences between Cornwall and Yorkshire, and one can only imagine what she sacrificed in order to take care of her sister’s family. Whatever Gaskell’s opinions, there’s no doubt that this is a woman who loved the Brontë siblings; her ultimate act of including them in her will put their writing careers in motion.

I found the book itself well written and easy to read. Perhaps it’s just me, but I did notice the electronic copy I received for review used the British English language throughout. This would make sense since the author is British, as is the publisher. Whether or not this will be changed for American readers when it’s released in the USA, I don’t know. I personally hope not, if only to retain the true tone of the author and his British subject matter. The sole problem I had is not the fault of the author. The Brontë and Branwell families followed naming traditions and, coupled with their apparent preference for popular names of the era, this means there is more than one Elizabeth and Charlotte appearing in the narrative. Thank goodness for the index; included along with notes and a select bibliography at the end of the book.

Are there any revelations in this book? It depends on what you knew about the family and Aunt Branwell prior to reading. I had only my childhood memories to go on, which admittedly may not be entirely accurate, and I knew nothing about the subject except that she was the aunt who helped raise the Brontë children. I didn’t know, for example, of the extent to which she inspired elements of the books that still grace many a bookshelf in the world. This isn’t just a good biography of Elizabeth Branwell. It also serves a concise introduction to the Brontë family history as well.

Disclaimer: I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. I was not required to write a review, and the words above are my own.

This is the first book I have read by this author – so I had no pre judgements or expectations.
I found this to be an exceptionally easy read which was both well researched and presented. The love of the subject by the author came across beautifully – I can imagine if you were new to the story of the Bronte sisters this enthusiasm would also inspire you to further reading and research.

A mixture of fact and educated assumptions breathes life into the personality of Elizabeth Branwell – even though I’ve read a great deal about the Bronte family, Wuthering Heights being my all time favourite novel - this gave me new insights as I did not realise just how influential Elizabeth was – somehow she has always just been part of the furniture of the parsonage – metaphorically speaking. I was also moved by the realisation of just how much she gave up regarding her personal life and well being – to move 400 miles away from her other family members and the only home she had ever known in a time when travel was not an easy or comfortable undertaking – for the welfare and love of her nieces and nephew.

I was also interested to read about what happened after the death of Elizabeth and how her extended family fared.

Just for the fact alone of how the author presented Elizabeth – bringing her from a one dimensional figure in Bronte history to a 3 dimensional living being is worth a 5* - the fact that I enjoyed the book so much and was sad that it came to an end – confirms that this is definitely a recommended read and very worthy of a full five stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers Pen & Sword History for providing me with a digital advance reader copy for my honest and unbiased review

This is the fifth biography I have read this year, which focuses on my beloved Brontes and the first to explore the infamous sisters through the character of their Aunt.

I really appreciated this different approach and the alternative facts of their lives this further exposed. I did, however, seem to skip around a little and I found myself feeling submerged in local legends, features of the land, and particulars of the Bronte fiction that all seemed to intermingle in an overwhelming fashion. I wanted to pause on these intriguing topics to fully explore them but was never given he chance to do so before the relentless pace had me immersed in another area of interest.

I would have preferred a more elongated and in-depth analysis, as everything this detailed was of extreme interest to me, but unfortunately it was all just too briefly touched upon.

Anyone who is interested in the Brontës cannot fail but be pleased to read more about the woman who helped raise them after their mother's passing. The author's sympathy for his subject and his desire to give her due credit come across very clearly and are commendable.

He is, however, hindered in his endeavour, because no letters or writings by her have survived. We can only see her through the eyes of others.
One of the difficulties in writing a biography is that the biographer, faced with a lack of evidence as is the case here, can be tempted to make hasty conclusions or suppositions.
I was disappointed by the amount of times the author did this, often making statements like "there can be no doubt that..." or she "must" have done this or that. We don't know those things, they are pure conjecture. It is possible, maybe likely... but without an actual source we cannot conclude anything without a doubt. One of the conclusions that seems most far-fetched to me, at least based on the evidence presented, is her supposed romantic attachment to her cousin Thomas Branwell or his premise that she must have had a suitor "if for nothing other than the conventions of the time".

The author also sometimes reverts to a different writing style, fictionalizing what he imagined took place, weaving tales with his usual aplomb as if it had actually happened the way he describes: "Elizabeth looked around with a smile of satisfaction on her face, nodding to the neighbours...".

He assigns a large portion of the blame for the commonly held perception of Aunt Branwell as a stern and unloving caretaker to Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Brontë. However biased or one-sided Mrs. Gaskell's biography may have been, she did not take as harsh a view of Aunt Branwell as we are led to believe, calling her "a kindly and conscientious woman" and even expressing admiration for Miss Branwell's decision to leave behind her happy life in Penzance to devote herself to her sister's children, "a severe trial for anyone at her time of life to change neighbourhood and habitation so entirely as she did; and the greater her merit."

Although it was wonderful to read a book with such focus on Aunt Branwell, its value lies mostly in presenting the information that is already out there in one concise volume, because we do not learn much more than what is already available through other books like that of Mrs. Gaskell or Juliet Barker's excellent comprehensive biography, "The Brontës".
I also really liked the way the author traced Aunt Branwell's influence on her nieces through their representation of her in their writings, which was very interesting.

The author is very thorough in describing Penzance, its history and people, and the extended Branwell family. A bit too thorough, in my opinion, because it leads him a quite far from the intended subject of his book and to my mind the information was not always that relevant.

I am a big fan of this authors work and was thrilled to get an ARC. As a massive Bronte fan who has read extensively I’m always on the look out for new books on the subject and this doesn’t disappoint. I loved this book. ‘Aunt’ Branwell has always seemed to me a much overlooked figure, but here we get to learn more about her early life and the sacrifices she made for her family. A truly admirable woman of courage and kindness. This work does her complicated life justice and she leaps from the page. Charlotte, Anne and Emily were undoubtably genius’ but it is doubtful there words would ever have been seen without the influence, love and money of their aunt.
I highly recommend it.
I was given a ARC but NetGalley all opinions are my own.

I do not know too much about the Bronte sisters of Branwell but this does seem to be a good book about them. It gives some interesting information about the interaction between Branwell and the Bronte family. So if you like to know more/a different angle about them this n=book does give you that. This is not a full-on biography about the sisters or Branwell, but later on with them.

*I would like to thank Pen&Sword and Netgalley for issuing me with the copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.*
I am a great fan of the Bronte family and this book on Elizabeth Branwell adds massively to my knowledge regarding the 'queens of English literature'. The life of Miss Branwell is usually mentioned modestly on several pages of any book dealing with the lives of the Brontes, however Nick Holland decided (and rightly, too ) to explore in depth the life of the woman who spent over 20 years loving and caring for her sister's children, and to whom we should feel gratitude as it was her money,left in the will, that allowed the sisters to publish their works. Nick Holland describes the Cornish roots of the sisters' and deals with some negative myths and opinions as far as Miss Branwell is concerned. The Author relies on original period correspondence and writes in a very enteraining style, which makes the book accessible to any reader. A very interesting read!

My review has been posted to my blog & Goodreads.

Review has also been tweeted as usual.

Thank you! :c)