"Bronte’s Mistress" by Finola Austin offers a fresh take on historical fiction, combining meticulous research with imaginative storytelling. The author masterfully blends fact and fiction, as explained in a thoughtful postscript that clarifies what’s grounded in history and what’s reimagined. This balance creates a vibrant backdrop for a tale of passion, power, and consequence.

The character of Lydia Robinson is complex and deeply human, though far from likable. Her plight—grieving the loss of her child and mother, trapped in a cold marriage, and hemmed in by societal constraints—makes her struggles understandable, if not excusable. Her family, particularly her insufferable husband and domineering mother-in-law, only intensify the reader's sympathy for her yearning for connection. Yet, Lydia's own choices often leave her pitiable but difficult to root for.

Branwell Brontë, meanwhile, feels true to his historical reputation—intensely passionate but plagued by flaws. His charisma and creative spirit are undeniable, but his lack of self-control and descent into erratic behavior are both tragic and inevitable.

Austin’s narrative is vivid and evocative, painting a detailed portrait of 19th-century Yorkshire and its societal norms. The forbidden relationship between Lydia and Branwell crackles with intensity, and the consequences of their affair unfold with heartbreaking inevitability. Fans of the Brontës will appreciate the subtle nods to their lives and works, though the novel’s focus remains squarely on Lydia’s perspective, giving voice to a woman often dismissed in historical accounts.

While Lydia may not win every reader’s affection, she is undeniably compelling—a sharp-witted, flawed, and courageous woman navigating a world that offers her few choices. I’ll eagerly anticipate more from Finola Austin, whose storytelling has made an unforgettable impression.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a digital ARC for the purpose of an unbiased review.

Unfortunately I really struggled to get into this. I thought that I would love it, but I found myself avoiding picking up my kindle which is a huge red flag. The character's and story fell flat for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Brontë’s Mistress by Finola Austin was a fascinating work of historical fiction–the amount of research put into this must have been astounding (and it’s a debut!). (Author’s note is a must read!)

Set in Yorkshire 1843, this is a reimagining of an affair that has divided Brontë scholars for years. This tells the story of 45 year old Lydia Robinson–a woman suffering great losses who yearns for something more in life. And then 25 year old Branwell Bronte, her son’s tutor, arrives, bringing with him a passion that Lydia needs so much.

While not the easiest character to like, there was something I admired about her, even when I was shaking my head at her actions. This story had me thinking a lot about the role of women and the constraints put on women (then and now). Really artfully well done.

Thanks to Nergalley for the electronic ARC of this book. Unfortunately, the book and I were not a good match. I found my mind wandering and repeatedly had to re-read passages before finally giving up. It was a DNF for me.

What a cool novel! I didn’t know anything at all about Lydia Robinson other than her connection to the Brontës, but I’m so glad this book brought her to life. Finola Austin is a delightfully talented writer, giving Lydia a complexity that’s rarely done well in historical fiction about women. Austin shows the reader a woman who’s sympathetic, infuriating, relatable, and painfully authentic all at once. I would so love to read her interpretations of other women in history, and I look forward to following her work!

I’m a big fan of the Brontes and this book made me love them more. Learning the family history I was more invested in the family after reading this book. also I love thjs cover

I love historical fiction and this was such a fun and interesting take on history! So often we get to see books about the Bronte sisters, but rarely do we get to see other members of their family play a part. This story about Branwell and Lydia is fun and hot! The chemistry between the two characters is palpable. For fans of the Brontes, Austen, etc. and for those who liked the movie "Jane Austen in Love" this is the perfect book for you!

10/10 Would highly recommend!

I think I had a different vision for this book than what it turned out to be. It just wasn’t for me!

I loved this thoroughly original take on a notorious scandal: the affair between the (married) Lydia Robinson and Branwell Bronte, her son's tutor. The writing is beautiful but not stodgy, i.e. true to the romantic spirit of a classic Bronte novel. There are also some clever modern insights into women's roles at the time. Lydia may not be a role model, but I found her an intriguing and ultimately sympathetic heroine. If you're a Bronte fan or love stories about the overlooked women of history, I highly recommend it. (Thanks to Atria Books for an advance copy, which I accepted in exchange for an honest review.)

I always think it’s a bit of fun when someone approaches a classic from a different angle, whether they write a prequel, sequel or introduce zombies.

What Brontë’s Mistress does instead is explore a real-life story adjacent to the fictional tales spun by the Bronte sisters. Finola Austin’s book is a well-researched account of an affair between upper-class Lydia Robinson and the much younger Branwell Brontë, her son’s tutor and brother of the famed writing sisters.

While the existence of the affair has always been in dispute, Austin presents a strong case through a fictionalized account in melodic prose. Well worth a read for the content, style and history. I received this Advanced Reader Copy of Brontë’s Mistress from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Bronte’s Mistress by Finola Austin

9781982137236

319 Pages
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: August 4, 2020

Fiction, General Fiction (Adult), Historical Fiction, 1840s

Lydia Robinson is a wife and mother of three daughters and a son. Her youngest daughter died when she was two within the year, and she has just returned from her mother’s funeral. She loves her husband, but he does not have the same feelings. Anne Bronte, the younger sister of Charlotte Bronte is the governess to the children. Several years later, Branwell Bronte becomes the tutor to Lydia’s son. She is immediately drawn to Branwell and soon passions flare.

The book has a steady pace and at times is written as letters back and forth. The characters are well developed, and it is written in the first-person point of view. Lydia is vain and even mentions she vanity. The author did an amazing job writing this story. It pulls the reader into the past with passion – both love and hate. If you like historical fiction, or anything related to the Bronte family, you will enjoy reading this book.

I received an advanced digital copy of this book from the author, publisher and NetGalley.com. Thanks to all for the opportunity to read and review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Bronte's Mistress is an atmospheric page turner with plenty of chemistry. Well researched and written, characters feel as alive as they were in real life.

5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended reading.

The premise to the story sounded interesting. However, I could not get into it. Lydia is really an unlikable character. She was very selfish and cold. She was also very jealous of Anne Bronte. Thus, I could not connect and emphasize with her. This made the story to a chore to read. The pacing was also slow. Thus, it had great potential, but it did not flow very well. Still, I recommend this Bronte fans!

5 "delicious, damning, dazzling" stars !!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Atria books for an e-copy. This was released September 2020.
I am providing my honest review.

I am choosing not to approach this novel as historical fiction as I did not read it this way. My feeling is that the author's research inspired her to create something absolutely extraordinary.

Ms. Austin was able to do something incredibly accomplished and assured in her debut novel. She was able to move seamlessly between romantic melodrama and psychological portraiture that complimented and enriched each of these respective forms of writing.

This is the story of Lydia Robinson (alleged older married mistress of Branwell Bronte). Ms. Austin created a female narcissist of the most complex but understandable kind. She is vain, manipulative, unkind, immature, entitled and forever suffering. She is uncharitable, shallow, capricious and opportunistic. She is both a predator and a leech. Under the guise of female oppression and lack of opportunity she lashes out, uses and criticizes those around her. An unfaithful wife, a cruel mother and not accomplished in anything but guile. But we can't only hate her for she is trying to survive, to love and be loved. Lydia Robinson feels extraordinarily special but this is never reflected back to her. She is spurned, ridiculed, bullied and diminished, sometimes denigrated. Although we cannot forgive her for her manipulations and hurts, we can certainly understand why she does what she does. Branwell, a narcissist of an even lower variety worships her but in reality only sees himself and due to his weakness succumbs while Lydia will do anything to survive and even thrive.


The novel is full of heightened emotions, rapidly fluctuating scenes and people behaving very badly.
The romance is lush and forbidden. The dialogue is at times outlandishly humorous. The violins are always playing with full vibrato but are in tune and played beautifully.

This is a novel I enjoyed, admired and surpassed my expectations in every which way.

Lydia Robinson you are one Spunky Righteous Bitch! I Loved to Hate you but I Undestood. I really did.

Thanks so much Ms. Austin for creating not another meek Victorian heroine but a villainess that (goddam it) we are rooting for !!

This is a powerful book whether you love or hate Lydia Robinson-possibly both. Lydia deserves to have her voice heard even if it is as “this is what could have happened”. Lydia is a woman who lived, born children, loved and lost a child. Many marriages have difficulty overcoming the loss of a child. Her husband has made himself unavailable to Lydia and left her bed. This is a novel reimagining based off of letters and archives of her affair with her children’s tutor Bramwell Brontë. Women like Lydia in Victorian times were faced with a lack of choices, trapped in marriages which denied the passions that women felt.
This book is filled with beautiful prose and deep passions. Bramwell has a poet’s heart and comes off as noble but weak. We see the toll his addictions take on him, Lydia and his family. History has not been kind to Lydia Robinson but this book gives her back her humanity. Whether you choose to see her as wretched temptress or neglected wife this compelling story helps you see a bold woman who flourishes for a time by grabbing hold of love she had been denied for too long.
I highly recommend this book. Thanks to #NetGalley and publisher for copy.

The Mistress of Thorp Green Hall, Lydia Robinson is grieving the loss of her darling daughter, and her mother, all in the same year. Her marriage is at a standstill, her overbearing mother in law is breathing down her neck and her teenage daughters are becoming more and more rebellious, she needs a change, she yearns for something more. When her son’s tutor, Branwell Brontë arrives with his sister Anne Brontë, Lydia’s daughter’s governess; her life will never be the same. Branwell’s struggling with his own demons however, they both are a breath of fresh air for each other. As the servant’s whispers begin, Lydia must save her and her family's reputation.



Brontë’s Mistress is an amazing debut novel, it’s juicy, well researched and beautifully written. The gender role reversal was captivating, we need more books like this. The story is based on the alleged affair between Lydia and Branwell, and although it's just alleged, this book has opened the floodgate even further. I love reading books set in the 1800s, society life, the language, just everything, and this book hit the mark for me. More times than not, I wasn’t a fan of Lydia’s character, she was very calculated and conniving while appearing innocent. Overall, I really enjoyed this story, it was slower paced but, it’s worth it.

This was a fun read! I am a huge Bronte fan, and while I get nervous about any sort of retelling or stories about beloved authors, I really enjoyed this one!

I loved this historical fiction novel featuring a new perspective! I hope we keep getting books from the perspective of the “villain” (because let’s be real everyone blames Lydia and not Branwell which sucks). I liked the characters and I truly did feel the chemistry between them.

There's a back story for me on this one. A blogger of whom I think highly was organising the publicity tour and I was offered a space. Cover quotes were making comparisons to Longbourn. I am very wary of spin-offs but this time, I thought I was on safe ground. I started reading. Early chapters seemed promising. But then. Oh no. Oh dear. I had made a commitment to promote a book that had an anti-Anne Brontë message! I also had a feeling of deja vu because something very similar happened when I agreed to review The Cows. That incident was burned into my memory because I was touring round Australia, didn't really have time to contact the publishers and so I panicked, wrote my honest review and went about my holiday. The publisher was extremely understanding and professional and we have worked together since but I knew that I had not handled it well. This time, I was determined to do better. So I contacted the tour host well in advance and explained that I wasn't enjoying the book and asked if it would be ok for me to just share an excerpt rather than completely shirking my commitment. This was agreed. I finished the book and, without thinking very much about it, ticked it off on Goodreads as completed. And again, on auto-pilot, I ticked a one-star review. And of course, I then got asked to leave the publicity tour.

This was no bad thing because I really hadn't liked the book but it also left me cringing because I am an anxious person and I hate letting anyone down. It's very important to me that all reviews be reflective of my honest opinion because Girl with her Head in a Book started life as an exercise for me to write down my thoughts about my reading because I was missing having an outlet to talk about books following the end of my literature degree. Not every reading experience is a positive one and I have been thanked in the past for warning people off books that they would not have enjoyed. My critique is literary rather than personal. I held off this review for almost a year but ultimately wanted to analyse the issues I had with this book and what I felt it revealed about the Brontë fandom.

Brontë's Mistress centres around the alleged affair between Branwell Brontë and his employer's wife Mrs Robinson. Mrs Robinson. Yes. She literally was called Mrs Robinson and may indeed have inspired The Graduate. Doo dee doo dee doo doo doo doo dee. Actually the affair isn't very alleged. Branwell was very open about it and seemed to have had the expectation that they would marry if her husband would only do the decent thing and die. And someone was keeping him in gin money during his latter days so even the level-headed Judith Barker (dispeller of most Brontë myths) seems to agree that this incident was legit and that Mrs R probably paid Branwell money post-affair to keep him quiet. So it seems that the Brontë brother really did dip his pen in the company ink and for that he really did get the sack. Mrs Robinson has been one of the various villains of Brontëdom and even threatened to sue Mrs Gaskell for libel when The Life of Charlotte Brontë was published. Finola Austin's novel poses the question as to whether this reputation was strictly deserved.

There has been a trend in recent years for revisionist perspectives on long-vilified females of history and so I was expecting Austin's novel to illicit sympathy for Lydia Robinson. Indeed, early chapters did seem to support this. Through Lydia's first person narration, Austin reminds us that Lydia had recently been bereaved of both her mother and her toddler daughter shortly before Branwell joined the household. Austin imagines an overbearing mother-in-law, an indifferent husband and a lifetime of disappointment. Did Lydia just end up in bed with Branwell out of loneliness and frustration? She would hardly be the first woman to succumb to temptation.

The problem comes from the fact that Lydia is wildly inconsistent as a character. She reminded me vividly of Philippa Gregory's off-kilter depiction of Margaret Beaufort in The Red Queen. In that case, Gregory's own dislike for the House of Lancaster led to her forcing Beaufort into long-winded and incoherent rants. In this case, Lydia veers from mawkish grief to rampant rabbit style pursuit of Branwell to satisfy her long-neglected sexual desires. Most of the time, she seems like a toddler stamping her feet and throwing tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants. I could only feel sympathy for her daughters. She seemed exhausting.

But strangest of all was Austin's re-imagining of Lydia' 'relationship' with the Brontë family. Brontë's Mistress supports the idea that Agnes Grey's second section contains a probable portrait of the Murray family. If we accept that, vain society hostess Mrs Murray is likely to be reasonable imitation of the real Lydia. Via her own avatar Agnes, Anne Brontë seems to have struggled with the contempt in which she was held in her position as a governess. Mrs Murray was superficial, fawning vaguely over her children before wandering off again to gaze in a mirror. She scolded Agnes for any attempt to impose discipline and performed impressive mental gymnastics to put the blame for any misdemeanour squarely in the court of the governess rather than her offspring. Mrs Murray had no interest in Agnes' personal life. Yet Austin imagines that Lydia is fascinated by them. And here I found myself incapable of suspending disbelief.

I could just about credit Branwell recounting some of his Angrian stories to her. Having read them, they don't seem like the most natural material for pillow talk. But fine. Maybe he really did call Lydia his 'princess of Angria'. But where it gets very weird is the notion that Charlotte is somehow 'connected' to Lydia. Austin has Branwell tell Lydia that the two of them are 'alike'. Lydia describes Charlotte as her 'twin', her 'distorted mirror image'. She dreams of her often. Most bizarre of all, the novel's climax is when these two women finally meet. It feels incestuous for Branwell to see Lydia as akin to his sister. It also feels absurd to imagine that an attractive and sexually confident woman would have ever felt threatened by someone like Charlotte Brontë who may have been a literary genius but was wracked by self-loathing and social anxiety. Also insulting to compare a literary genius to a character with no creative output. It just ... didn't make sense.

Then things got stranger. Somehow Lydia was granted a strange omniscience over all things Brontë. In the latter section of the novel, she discovers that the Brontë sisters have written novels. She reads them all and pronounces her opinions, describing Wuthering Heights as 'strange and romantic as Emily herself'. On my Kindle, I annotated that with '????????' How would Lydia Robinson possibly know this? Emily was a private woman who she most likely never set eyes on in her life. The further I got with the book, the more I wondered whether Lydia was perhaps not Mrs Robinson, but rather a proxy for the views of Finola Austin herself.

The whole of Brontë's Mistress reads like a piece of misguided pro-Charlotte propaganda, as if the very idea of Charlotte was enough to change Lydia's entire destiny. More upsettingly, there is quite a nasty little scene where Lydia scolds Anne while discussing Branwell:

'Ask Charlotte,' I went on. 'She has some understanding of what Branwell is and of the great writer he could become. Your brother tells me she has his spirit, a twin flame burning red inside her. The same light he saw smouldering in me.'

Miss Brontë raised one eyebrow. How dare she stand in judgment over me? I had a mind and a soul as much as the Miss Brontës. What had any of them ever achieved to hold themselves so high?

I lashed out. 'But you don't have it in you. That is why you will always be in your siblings' shadows'. 

Was that a tear, hovering in her eye? If it was, she willed it not to fall. Miss Brontë held every muscle in her body tense as if steeling herself for a physical blow.

This passage felt like the opinion of the author, praising Charlotte and Branwell as superior writers to Anne. And it rubbed me up the wrong way for a variety of reasons:

I am really bored of the Branwell obsession. It's as if rather than saying, 'Wow, three talented authors in one family - incredible!', people instead say, 'But why not the boy? Surely he would have been better than them if only he'd had the opportunities'. Well ... he did get the opportunities, he just squandered them. And I've never found his poetry particularly impressive. Maybe he really was just mediocre.
It's pretty clear that Anne was the best prose stylist within the family. She was maturing fast as a writer and she was cut off in her prime. She wrote Agnes Grey at the same time when Charlotte's best effort was The Professor. Her second published novel was Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Charlotte's second published novel was Shirley. The latter has its moments but it is a bit of a hot mess. Tenant packs one heck of a punch.
In terms of courage, Anne Brontë had it in bucket-loads. Her literal last words were 'take courage', spoken to Charlotte. The reason her books didn't take flight the way that Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights did is that they make people uncomfortable because Anne is writing about issues which the contemporary audience would have rather ignored. Yet Anne did it anyway. Courage. But then after Anne was dead, the less courageous Charlotte (not judging, she was grieving and plus relentless public backlash must have been incredibly difficult) ran round and spread a story of Anne being meek and mild and not knowing what she was doing.
It feels really childish to have to 'pick a sister' within the Brontë fandom. And writing a scene where your lead character makes your not-favourite-sister cry feels ... mean. It reminds me of Harry Potter fan fiction written circa 2005 where authors tried to make Ginnie stupid and rude because they were cross that Harry ended up with her rather than Hermione. Why can't we just accept that all three sisters were literary geniuses with different areas of focus?
It was this scene that made me realise that I couldn't possibly write a review that would align with the goals of Austin's publicity tour.

Structurally speaking, I also found Brontë's Mistress to be quite peculiar. Reading the final section, I felt like it did not make a great deal of sense in terms of plot arc but given that Lydia's movements were motivated due to money worries, I guessed that Austin was just hamstrung by real-life events. Always a problem in historical fiction - life rarely follows a good story mountain pattern. But no. In the afterword, Austin admits that there is 'no evidence' that the Robinsons ever experienced any financial difficulties ... so the whole baffling final section was pure dramatic licence.

Even more peculiar, the story ends with Lydia's confrontation with Charlotte and then a final lament that she could not be Charlotte herself. Which again ... doesn't seem plausible. But it is such a surprising choice. Surely a more obvious choice would have been to include Lydia's reaction to being named in The Life of Charlotte Brontë? Indeed, while I struggle to imagine Lydia caring a jot for the opinion of anybody in the Brontë family, Mrs Gaskell would be more of a worthy adversary. They were both minister's wives, both active in society. Mrs Gaskwell's righteous indignation was clearly something to behold. And then the delicious moment when the new Lady Scott was able to strong-arm Mrs Gaskell into a retreat - what a finale that would have made had it been used.

Brontë's Mistress was a frustrating read because there are occasional glimpses of what it could have been. The real Mrs Robinson really had had an annus horribilis. Maybe she was just in need of validation. Judith Barker noted in her biography that Mrs Robinson was gifted jewellery by her husband not long after Branwell's sacking which suggests that the two of them managed a reconciliation before his death. That would have been an interesting plot. Anguished wife thinks she's found comfort in the arms of the oh-so-understanding young tutor. Tutor turns out to be thoroughly arrogant and entitled and has a drinking problem to boot. What to do? How to extricate herself from this embarrassing and indiscreet affair? To the rescue comes Mr Robinson, her boring yet ultimately forgiving husband. It could have been like the final scene in Brief Encounter. But then - the twist when Lydia's sins return to haunt her via Mrs Gaskell's book! It could have still have been dramatic while also remaining plausible.

I really liked Austin's depiction of Anne's relationship with the Robinson girls. While they did not always treat her fairly, they clearly held her in deep affection. They protest loudly when Lydia ponders dismissing her. When one girl has made a foolish life decision, she goes to find Anne in the middle of the night for comfort. While she finds them frustrating, Anne obviously cares for them and tries to promote their best interests. I also thought that there was something so powerful in Lydia's line in the final chapter, 'Readers were so quick to lap up the sorrows of moping governesses when that was only one side of the story'. She's right. We only hear about the sufferings of Jane Eyre, Agnes Grey and Lucy Snowe ... and indeed William Crimsworth. We have no idea what it must have been like to actually employ them. And it is also true that the Brontë sisters of Haworth knew but little of the daily grind of marriage and motherhood. You can't claim to know the truth about someone else's marriage from the outside. But unfortunately the version of Mrs Robinson who we meet in Brontë's Mistress not one likely to inspire sympathy.

So long cast as the Great Seductress, Mrs Robinson has had an unfair press down the centuries. I would hope that we have reached an era which is more understanding of the toll that motherhood can take on one's mental health. The pandemic has shown how it is consistently women who take on the emotional burden of raising children. And just because Mrs Robinson had a governess and nursemaids does not mean that she did not bring up her own children. But the focus of Brontë's Mistress never seems to be about the stresses and strains of motherhood, it's just that Lydia wants to get laid and to have expensive things. When she moves into the house of her dying cousin with the goal of stealing said cousin's rich husband, the novel reaches pantomime levels of villainy. Lydia is written as someone with very few moral qualms.

Biographical fiction is a tough genre. If it's done carefully then one can gain an exciting insight into a historical figure. If it's done incautiously, it can cause me a physical headache as I worry about what the poor deceased person would think of their image being misused in this manner. I am reminded of the quotation from the final pages of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall:

It's the living that chase the dead. The long bones and skulls are tumbled from their shrouds, and words like stones thrust into their rattling mouths: we edit their writings, we rewrite their lives. Thomas More had spread the rumor that Little Bilney, chained to the stake, had recanted as the fire was set. It wasn't enough for him to take Bilney's life away; he had to take his death too.

Hilary Mantel admitted that this was her way of admitting that her book could be wrong - possibly even morally wrong. To weave your own story around someone who was once living, to thrust your words like stones into their rattling mouths. In this case, I think that Lydia Gisborne, known at other times as Lydia Robinson and Lady Scott, had an ill-advised dalliance with a foolish young man which it is obvious that she came to regret. She would not be the first and she will not be the last to rue such a relationship. I think the burning shame that one can feel at the memory of intimacy with someone who has proved unworthy was punishment enough. To be rendered ridiculous even further via the medium of fiction feels unfair.

I really tried to give this book a solid shot, but in the end it just wasn't for me. The genre of historic fiction usually isn't my preference, but I like to be knowledgeable of the classics, and I thought a book about life of a literary family like the Brontes would be enjoyable. I was intrigued with the overall storyline, but I honestly found myself just wanting to read the cliff notes version. There were too many unlikeable characters, which was definitely important to the story, but for me that made it hard to continue. I just wanted to know the outcome, so no matter how well written, this just wasn't going to be the book for me.