Loved this inventive take on the real life story of the Brontë sisters and their family! It made me want to read all the Brontë books I haven’t yet immediately.

Hmmm. I don't even know what to say. I'm so confused. This is a retelling of the Bronte siblings lives. Half of the book makes you feel like you are in the past, the other half, modern day. There is really no real conclusion or point to make, no twist. I'm confused. It rambles on about daily life of the Brontes.

I received an audio copy of this book via Net Galley and HighBridge Audio for an honest review.

When I saw the premise of Half-Life of a Stolen Sister, on the heels of having watched Emily in theaters, and in the midst of reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, safe to say I was pumped to read this book. I was even more excited to get the chance to listen to the e-arc via Netgalley.

Half-Life of a Stolen Sister is an imaginative reconfiguration of the lives of the Bronte sisters. Cantor plays with form and jumps around quite a bit, which sometimes in the audio version did feel a bit jarring. I do think, however, considering what little we know about the Brontes relative to their importance to the English literary canon, Cantor's efforts to keep this from being a straightforward fictionalization of their lives succeed. There are a tremendous amount of works out there that simply tell a story of a real person in a linear narrative, but Cantor does some experimentation to keep it from feeling pat.

I think this was an interesting take on an interesting subject matter and I can safely say that I haven't read anything similar.

I have always been intrigued by the Brontë sisters and so I automatically latched onto this cover and description. The unique storytelling takes us to different time periods but still telling the stories of the ladies and their family.

I found this style extremely difficult to follow and was disappointed in that regard, however, the loss of their brother stood out, rightfully so, as this was an impactful time and I appreciated how this part of the story was shared.

Actual Rating 1.5

I don’t know how to write a summary of this work. It’s supposed to be a reimagining of the Brontë siblings that follows them from childhood to their early deaths. But to be quite honest, the only way I got some enjoyment out of this novel was by pretending it had nothing to do with the Brontës and that these were instead completely original characters.

I wouldn’t classify this work as historical fiction. Maybe literary fiction? But here’s why. The story started feeling like traditional 19th century, which makes sense. Then suddenly, with no transition or explanation, the characters are talking about emails and computers and working modern jobs. There’s no explanation, no situating ourselves in this, no time machine, nothing. You turn a page and you’re suddenly reading emails written by a Brontë.

This book was all over the place. Much of it was spent as the characters daydreaming or thinking about what they wanted to write, or trying to write, keeping journals, writing emails, etc. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything so disjointed. There were portions that I quite enjoyed, mostly in the first 30% of the book. These were the times when the siblings were interacting with each other and their father, when it seemed to be set in the 19th century and was the only time when their personalities and emotions really shone through. This portion of the book was a more traditional narrative, and I found it to be quite compelling.

I really don’t know who to recommend this read to. If you enjoy literary fiction you might like this. I usually like literary fiction and don’t mind challenging reads, but I couldn’t make this one work. As I listened to the audio version, it’s possible that a physical copy would be more accessible, but I’m not tempted to find out. I received a copy of this work from NetGalley and HighBridge Audio in exchange for my honest opinion.

I picked up this audio book because I love everything Bronte, and I tried to like it. Perhaps I missed the point but I was confused most of the time. The novel jumps from narrator to narrator and in and out of time periods without centering the reader, so I frequently had to rewind to figure out who was talking, when we were, and when. I’m sorry, but this one was not for me.

I will not be posting this review to my newsletter or online.

Half-Life of a Stolen Sister reimagines the lives of the famous Brontë sisters and their most famous works Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Agnes Grey. Following the Brontë family from their childhood to the death of Charlotte, Rachel Cantor gives us a version of how this family could generate so many creative geniuses.

Though I did enjoy much of the speculation behind the Brontë sisters lives, the time period swaps were hard for me to swallow. It is very hard for me to envision literary great Charlotte Brontë dealing with a publisher via email. For those purists (I’m talking to you English teachers—myself included) this tale a bit hard to consume. If you don’t mind the creative liberties with time and technology, and you love the Brontës, then you will quite enjoy this novel. Hamnet this is not. Not every book is for everyone’s cup of tea.

Thank you to NetGalley, Highbridge Audio, and the author Rachel Cantor for the advanced copy of the audiobook. Half-Life of a Stolen Sister is out now. All opinions are my own.

A diverse, chaotic, messy, eclectic conglomeration of originality. It was a joy to listen to this patchwork about real figures in a thoroughly inventive style. This is far from your typical book, but I completely enjoyed its inventiveness.

Boring with a bad narrator. I tried to like it, being a Bronte' fan, but I just couldn't. Possibly would have been better with someone else reading. Publishers need to understand how VITAL it is to find a good actor to read their books. Not sure it would have saved this snooze fest, but it might have at least made it bearable.

This is a highly structurally inventive and creative work - largely consisting of ephemera along with traditional narrative. The structure is sometimes effective and sometimes less effective, I think this is a very complex challenging project to undertake and was fairly pleased about the execution.

I was a little surprised that the author chose to represent the Bronte's through this work and did not see the utility of this in the work. It may have been stronger had the the author not been constrained by my pre existing knowledge of the family. I ultimately found it difficult to get through in an audio format and did not finish but may try again in print.

This was a very curious little book. The target audience must be very specific: those who already know quite a bit about the Bronte family and their work, in order for some of the references to land. It starts off hewing very close to imaginative non-fiction, and then the anachronisms slowly trickle in. At first it was items so minor I questioned if they belonged: do I actually know when soup cans came into use? Maybe the subway in question is the very first London underground which was built earlier than I realized?

By the time computers and televisions enter the scene the penny has dropped and the reader knows this is getting very fictional indeed. Still the language stays Bronte-era appropriate, the deaths continue to happen tragically young (though even more galling in an era with things like vaccines and IVs), and the gross injustices done to talented women because of their gender remain.

It's almost off-puttingly unique, and really won't be for everyone, but it's creative and in a strange way very true in its intentional untruths.

It's unclear to me if this is a product of the audiobook, but some of Rachel Cantor's "form-shattering" elements in Half-Life of a Stolen Sister aren't quite tracking for me. Transporting the Bronte siblings across place and time to see them interact in impossible scenarios is interesting, but little about the characters themselves changes; these moments end up feeling jarringly anachronistic (they still speak like early 19th-century people while eating spaghetti-os) rather than inventive.

The standout element of the novel is the way Cantor invites you to consider new, illegible facets of these "characters'" lives. You can feel the connection between the siblings and how these relationships evolve over time and circumstances.

I definitely recommend this one for anyone who has read Wide Sargasso Sea and novels where real people are characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I love the Brontë siblings so much and was very excited to read this book. It’s a fascinating new take on their life story through jumps in time as well as forms of storytelling. While this is a unique was to tell their story, it was hard for me to concentrate on and keep up with.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced audio of this book. I love Classic Literature and The Bronte sisters and was excited to read this. I think this will be a great read for someone who doesn't already know a great deal about the Bronte's or for someone that can go in not expecting this book to be a glimpse into their lives. The story could have been about any family and really only seemed to be related to the Bronte's because of the names, the family tragedies and the love of writing.

This work is loosely based on the overarching theme of their lives of the love for one's family and writing. The story unravels in different styles including letters, diary entries, interview transcripts and internal monologues. The time periods in which the characters were set in jumped around a lot, with mentions of bodices and Lords in one section and then convertibles and bright blue shining swimming pools in the next. It was a bit chaotic and possibly it just didn't translate well as an audiobook. Despite that, I loved the overall theme of the book which was love for family and writing. I felt the larger picture overall was touching and because of that I would say this is closer to a 3.75 star rating rather than a 3.

3.5 stars rounded up. This was a really interesting read. It gave you a good idea of the history behind the Brontë family told through vibes and the use of their own fantastical stories. You get to listen in as the siblings create their own fantasy world. Yes at times it was difficult to understand truly what was happening, but once you let go of needing to know specifics and instead focus on the relationships between the characters and their developing literary styles that stopped bothering.

The Brontes are a fascinating topic so I was excited to read this book, but I found it wasn't for me. At least not on audiobook. The plot is difficult to follow and the narrative varies from style to style. Perhaps this would work better in print / ebook vs on audiobook, but I found it confusing on audio. If these types of narrative devices are of interest, it may be more your speed.

A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

As I listened to the audiobook, I have strong feelings that it would’ve been a much more enjoyable listening experience if each Brontë had a different speaker.

Going into this novel, I assumed that since it is based on the Brontë’s lives, it would take place in the 1800s. Color me surprised when there were microwaves and texting and graphic t-shirts.

I REALLY wanted to enjoy this story - am a fan of classics so of course love at least one work by Charlotte, Emily, and Anne each!
Perhaps Cantor’s work is just a bit too literary for me.

2.5 of 5 stars.

I am really enjoying this book, but I have to put this book down and wait for the physical. I would love to read this with both physical and audio, but with the amount of mixed media, I won't be able to give it a fair shot with audio only.
I'm excited to see where this goes once I have the physical book too.