Bored out of my mind. I am a huge fan of the Bronte sisters works, but this did not do it for me at all.

Bronte’s Mistress is a fine example of historical fiction. The author takes the story of the affair between Branwell Bronté and Lydia Robinson and fills in all the bits and pieces of how it might have happened. The author really did her research well and paints such a vivid picture of all the emotions involved. The novel really shows the status of women at the time and how trapped they could feel. I really enjoyed this one.

Undoubtedly when readers see the name Bronte, they think about Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. But, Charlotte and Emily were only two of the Bronte siblings. Among them and others, they had one brother Branwell; he is the focus of this story based on some historical facts.

Sister, Anne, had a job as a governess. Branwell became a tutor to a child in that same family. As a result, he met Lydia Robinson who was over ten years his senior. She was a woman reeling from loss, a difficult marriage and a controlling mother in law. As the title of this novel tells readers, she became Bronte’s mistress. What happened to them and this relationship will surely interest readers of historical fiction.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. All opinions are my own.

A very interesting read. I didn't know anything about Mrs. Robinson's life or her connection to the Bronte family. I enjoyed learning a little more about her and her family, even if some of it was fabricated. I did like that at the end, Finola Austin broke down exactly what was real and what was fictionalized. Most historical fiction doesn't do that.

I absolutely love the Bronte family--especially the sisters. I've read nearly all the sisters' novels and poetry, and even Branwell and Patrick Bronte's poetry. I've devoured Juliet Barker's beautiful (and huge) Bronte biography. That said, I just could not--unfortunately--get into this novel. I gave it until 90 pages before giving up. While the writing is exceptional quality, it started too slow for me; and while I sympathized with Lydia I couldn't sympathize/relate to her enough to actually care about what happened in the story. I think part of it is: I know the true story very well from all my Bronte research and, as I was reading the novel, I began to see no benefit in reading a fictionalized account of it. Seems like a great book, just not for me.

Bronte's Mistress by Finola Austin was one of my most anticipated books of 2020. Unfortunately, it fell extremely short for me.

I generally give a book several tries if I don't gel with it the first time. I picked this book up several times and I just could not continue on. I tried the audiobook once the book was released, and that did not help either. The long chapters were also challenging as I find they mentally make the book feel longer.

While I knew this would not be a happy read, I was excited to read more about the Bronte's lives as I adore their writing so much. I have also research a lot about Branwell because there is so little on him, and he had a huge influence on the family both good and bad. I can commend the authour for the research she seems to have done on this period of the Bronte's lives and into the affair between Branwell and Lydia Robinson.

While I knew Lydia Robison was not happy in her marriage it just seemed like nothing could make this woman happy. Her attitude really brought down this story. It was just so hard to read about a bratty woman. She also had a weird fascination and attitude towards Charlotte. I just found that super strange.

I think maybe this book would have been more enjoyable from another characters point of view. Perhaps Branwell or Anne as most people in the audience would already have a like and respect for them. Another idea would have been to have told this from various points of view so we were not always in Lydia's head.

I received an eARC from Atria Books through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

If you are turned off by books that lack loveable characters, this book is not for you. Lydia Robinson is not a good person and she's an even worse mother. That being said, Finola Austin's portrayal of a narcissistic mother is very well done. She offers no excuses or explanations for Lydia's behavior, and yet, in her manner of writing, it is evident to the reader that Lydia is terrible and completely unaware and unapologetic for it.

I had a really hard time getting through this book. On the one hand, I feel like the author took the time to research the history, which I'm always happy to see. Unfortunately, that was the best of it for me. I must've started and stopped this book a dozen times, finally just pushing through in hopes that things would improve. They didn't. Try as I might, I just didn't like the characters, Lydia in particular. She comes across as bitter and childish more often than not, and well, I just didn't like her. I don't know, maybe that's intentional, and it missed the mark with me, but it's kind of hard to care about the details of an affair - the how and why of it - when I don't care at all for the participant. Glancing through, it looks like I'm in the minority here, so I'll just chalk this one up to not the book for me. If you're interested in the story, I'd say check it out or check out the more positive reviews and take mine with a grain of salt. It clearly wasn't my kind of story.

I have decided to be honest with myself and you in saying that I’m probably not reading this book. I requested at the start of last year when I thought I could read a wider variety of books. Thank you though!

This tragic story of the passionate love affair between the lonely, middle aged Lydia Robinson and the young, brilliant Branwell Bronte is compelling reading. How this couple followed the promptings of their own hearts and abandoned the restrictive conventions of their times is sensitively recounted. The detailed research into character and location gives this historical novel a realism which underlines and enhances the tragedy of this story. I cannot recommend it more highly

It’s been so long since I have read a Bronte book, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I found the main characters credible, but not particularly likeable. The story was enjoyable as was the time period. I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest opinion.

DNF @ 41%

I had such high hopes for this book. I'm a huge fan of the Bronte Sisters and I know a thing or two about Branwell, his alcoholism, and his affair with the married Lydia Robinson. A book from the POV of Mrs. Robinson felt exciting and, despite the fact that it is cheating, I was hoping for something that captured my attention and gave me more insight into Branwell's place in the Bronte family and the instigation of the affair.

However, before the book ever makes it to the affair, Lydia establishes herself as an unhappy, miserable, and jealous woman in a loveless marriage. Her negativity just does not end. I did my best to overlook how unlikeable she is because there is always a chance of character redemption with characters like Lydia. But throughout the 41% that I did read, she was so nasty to her children, she talked about them so harshly, and she acted in unloving ways toward them. She was incredibly jealous of not only her children, but of Anne Bronte as well. Anne was employed by the Robinsons as governess to the children alongside Branwell, who was young Ned Robinson's tutor.

By the time the affair was starting up, I disliked Lydia so much that I didn't even care about her or her affair with Branwell. I didn't want to spend any more time trying to see things from her perspective. I tried to push through, but I just couldn't do it. She was just too rude and nasty, and it's really unfortunate that I felt this way because I was so excited to read this one.

I tried a total of three times in the many months since I downloaded the book. So I'm DNF'ing for now. My opinion doesn't seem to be consistent with the majority though, so if you're interested in this one, don't take only my word for it.


I would like to thank Atria Books for providing a digital copy via NetGalley for review!!

As an avid classics reader, I was eager to read this fictionalized tale of the least spoken about Brontë, Branwell, and the possible affair he had with a married woman, his employer.
Lydia Robinson, the woman in question, is unhappy in her marriage. Though she and her husband were once close, he is now emotionally and physically distant. The untimely death of their youngest daughter seems to be the catalyst for their separation. Enter Branwell, the much younger, passionate poet whom Lydia’s husband has employed to tutor their son. Thus begins a torrid, reckless affair that eventually unmoors both parties and their subsequent families.
This book kept me interested, despite my overwhelming dislike for both Lydia and Branwell. I found both extremely unlikeable characters, but did feel slightly more sympathy towards Branwell, mostly due to his naivety. Lydia’s mothering left much to be desired and her disdain for surviving children was frustrating to read. While I did enjoy the “cameos” of the various Brontë women, I wish there had been slightly more of these snippets into the writers’ lives.
Overall, I enjoyed this book as a work of historical fiction and a glimpse into what *may* have occurred between Branwell Brontë and Lydia Robinson. I now am even more eager to read Elizabeth Gaskell’s opinion on the subject,

Bronte’s Mistress
by Finola Austin

A Bronte reader comes to this book armed with “the rest of the story” awareness of the looming celebrity for all the members of this famous family. This tale starts at a known moment of Bronte family tensions – what to do with that odd man out, a troubled brother. Against the backdrop of the threadbare and earnest Bronte women springs a less earnest and future-eager Bronte man – Branwell. He’s leaving home to teach the rich and spoiled Robinson daughters. From behind the shadows steps their mother, Lydia Robinson. Many years his senior, insatiable and very interested in his potential for distraction and his family connections. . . and we are off!

From the first page I did not like this woman. All my Bronte loyalties spiked up, and still my inner voice had to remind me this was just an author’s reimagining about what could have been, may have happened. Lydia obsessed about Branwell’s family, and presumed a similarity to them, pretending friendships that existed. Of her own life’s dissatisfaction there was much to examine. . .and this book does that. I pitied everyone pulled in by her rip tide. . .even Branwell, who has never been my favorite.

At the book’s end, I had to set myself down hard in my “talking to self” chair and remind myself this was fiction, and a skilled author’s reimagining. (But just so you know. . . .I’m still mostly believing this one. It’s that good.)


A Sincere Thank You to Finola Austin, Atria Books and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review.

I'm a huge fan of the writings of the Bronte sisters - Emily, Anne, and Charlotte left their marks on the world. Their only brother, Branwell, did not. He floundered through his life, unable to find his path and a victim of his addictions. What Branwell did leave, though, were letters intimating that he may have had an affair with one of his employer's wives, Lydia Robinson.

Austin took what is known about their relationship and crafted it into a novel that explores Lydia's side of the relationship. In Austin's hands, Lydia is a complicated character and I had mixed feelings about her. It's a fact that Lydia was married to an older man, in a time period where a woman's security depended on men. It's also a fact that she had only recently lost a child when Branwell began working for the family. Austin takes all of those facts and takes things up a notch making Lydia a woman who wasn't necessarily a fan of being a mother, particuarly not of her surviving daughters, viewing them more as burdens to be unloaded onto the best match she could make than as cherished parts of her heart. Edmund Robinson is portrayed as a man who has lost whatever passion he might once have felt for his wife, whose mother matters more to him than his wife, and whose gambling habit will eventually leave Lydia in a position where she must rely on others to survive after Edmund's death.

It was easy to imagine why Lydia might be attracted to a handsome young man who shows her attention and there was certainly a part of me that cheered for Lydia to find some happiness. And then a part of me that grew increasingly frustrated with her recklessness, especially as it became clear that Branwell could not be relied upon to be cautious nor quiet about their affair. Once things really changed for Lydia, though, at a time where I should have felt sorry for her, I found her increasingly irritating and annoyed with the choices she made. It was hard to feel sorry for her. And then it occured to me that Lydia reminded me very much of Becky Sharpe in William Thackeray's Vanity Fair; another woman whose passion undid her and who did whatever it took to survive. It didn't make me like Lydia any more. She was still a woman who Austin portrays as jealous of the relationship between her daughters and their governess but more angry at her daughters for not trying harder to be close to her than she was willing to make that effort. But I could see better what Austin was doing.

Ms. Austin has clearly done her research and does a fine job of painting a picture of what life was like in that time and place. I would have liked to see a little more character development. Only Lydia felt like she was fully developed; Edmund, their daughters, and other family members and friends often felt like caricatures. The book might actually have benefited from more development of Lydia's other relationships as well. Overall, if I were to put a grade on this one, I'd give it a C, an average book that has good moments and I don't regret reading. Other reviewers on Goodreads gave it much higher marks. I'd recommend you look at a few reviews before you make your decision if you're thinking of picking this one up.

Let me start by saying historical fiction isn't my preferred genre.

The book was well written. While I didn't actually like any of the characters, they were well developed. I know they are based on real people, but there is enough written in the book that you didn't need to have prior knowledge of them.

This book wasn't for me, but I can see how it would be a great book to others.

Author Finola Austin introduces us to Bronte's Mistress, the Bronte in question being Bramwell, the only brother of the three scholarly sisters who will become beloved writers one day.

He is not the main figure in this story,however-that portion falls to Lydia Robinson, who is grieving the untimely death of a daughter as well as her own mother,both within the same year.

Bramwell and his sister Anne join her household as educators to Lydia's remaining daughters and with her family in disarray, she finds the young man's company a most welcome relief. His charm and wit, along with lively interest in the arts, makes their considerable age difference a remote obstacle to their hidden love affair.

What does threaten their romance is Lydia's current marriage, grown cold but still very much alive in the eyes of society. While she does long to give into their mutual passion, Bramwell's erratic nature and his sisters' use of literary inspiration could ruin more than one life and that may be too high a price for either of them to pay.

This novel explored a not often seen side of the Bronte legend, offering some fresh nuance into that famous family and the consequences to those brought within the borders of their collective country of Victorian sorrow and imagination.

I'm a huge historical fiction fan and really enjoyed this book. I've read about the Bronte sisters before but I never knew much about their brother Branwell.

The romance between Branwell, a tutor, and his employer, Lydia, who is grief-stricken over the loss of her daughter and mother and stuck in a miserable marriage, threatens her reputation, his sanity and his sisters' legacy. Austin has written a moody, character-driven story that you can't put down.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for a copy to review.

If you're looking for a Brontë style gothic novel, this isn't it. Though, my Brontë knowledge is not extensive, so maybe they wrote a regular novel at some point. This is more like Jane Austen, think Lady Susan. Of course, if someone compared my novel to Jane Austen, I'd be over the moon.

This is about the mistress of the house where Anne Brontë was hired as a governess. Her brother Branwell is brought on as a tutor and that's where this story begins.

I thought the author did a great job with this. Writing historical fiction about real people cannot be easy. The references to parts of the sisters' novels was really well done and very clever. They were like little Easter eggs.

I loved how this book was the perfect homage to all things Bronte. It felt almost as if any of the Bronte sisters took their brother’s story and Lydia’s and put this tale together. I found myself loving all of the Bronte Easter eggs, and sometimes I felt like we even got a hint of Daphne du Maurier! This story and the feminist aspect around Lydia was truly harrowing and delightful, all at the same time. Would love to read more by this author!