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Anne: the least-known Bronte sibling

Samantha Ellis's new book argues that Anne Bronte is as worthy of praise as either of her sisters.

January 17, 2017 15:57
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2 min read

Having adored Samantha Ellis's How to be a Heroine celebrating the inspirational women and girls of fiction, from Katy Carr to Lizzie Bennett  and of course the Bronte sisters  I had high hopes for her follow-up. In Take Courage, Ellis has placed a magnifying glass on Anne Bronte, the littlest-known sister and a writer Ellis once had little time for.

I have to admit that, while familiar with the novels of “Acton Bell”, as Anne was known, I have never read them cover to cover. But, in the wake of Ellis’s biography, I’m keen to do so, especially The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall, for which she makes a convincing case as a feminist tract with a heroine far superior to either Cathy or Jane Eyre.

Many words have been written about the Brontes, and many more will be in the future. It is not hard to see why; three women raised in relative isolation and rural penury in an era when women were only wives and mothers, not writers; an alcoholic, philandering wastrel of a brother; an idealistic and encouraging father (far ahead of his time) and, of course, the great, influential literary treasure chest that they produced before their premature deaths. Ellis’s book doesn’t uncover much that is new but that isn’t really her objective.

Instead, she walks the streets Anne walked, and seeks to understand the youngest Bronte sister: What motivated her? What were her dreams and desires? How did her relationship with her sisters — the troubled Emily and (in Ellis’s view) the condescending Charlotte — shape her writing? How much of her experience as a governess did she bring to Agnes Grey; how much of herself did she see in Helen, who becomes the mistress of her own life?