Anne's Reviews > The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte

Alright. The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte. There is so much that I wanted to say about this book, but I can't even recall half of what I meant to write.
This was the book that I chanced to bring with me during my recent move trip, from Canada to the States. I must admit that it helped me a great deal, because I was feeling very stressed, but upon entering into the lives of the Brontë family, it made me momentarily forget my worries and anxieties. I owe Syrie James many hours of delight with this book.

Can I truly consider myself a Brontë fan?

Prior to starting this novel, the only work that I had ever read by a Brontë was Jane Eyre, which I loved, and the only thing I knew about the author was that she and Emily and Anne were sisters. I also knew of Wuthering Heights's existence, as well as The Tenant of Wildfell-Hall's, but that's it. I knew nothing about them.

Now after reading The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë, I feel as though I know a great deal more about them, and am thoroughly eager to read all their works and biographies. If Syrie James hoped to give the Brontë sisters more fans with her book, she definitely succeeded with me!

This novel was absolutely wonderful. Charlotte was an amazing heroine and Mr. Nicholls no doubt became my new obsession of the moment. Their love story was just beautiful. I felt a great deal of respect and awe for Mr. Nicholls towards the end, when it is revealed that he has been in love so long with Charlotte, and that he had had to wait almost 10 years before marrying her! First she hated him, then he learned that she was a famous author and felt unworthy to be with her, and then, just when she begins to warm up to the idea of being his wife, he is cruelly rejected by her friends and family! I felt incredibly bad for him, especially since his reward of finally getting Charlotte was so short-lived.

Although this book is incredibly sad (I've lost count of how many people pass away!!), it is very well-written, deeply intriguing and well worth reading. It gives an excellent insight of the hard life that women of lower classes led during the 19th century.

I enjoyed the fact that, although a little modernly written, James had her characters act true to the period. She did not include graphic details of marital life, to which I was immensely grateful for. I hate it so when contemporary authors include sex scenes in period novels! Of course I know people had intercourse back then too, but to write it in a novel was extremely out of place. Just think, Jane Eyre was considered a shocking novel at the time of its publication, because of the allusions to Mr. Rochester's past mistresses!

There was a little wedding night scene, but it wasn't detailed enough (only what leads to the act is described, aka, the brushing of the hair) to make me uncomfortable, and though it made me blush, I thought that it was very beautiful.

My only complaint with this book was with all the mistakes in French. I did not mind that French sentences were woven throughout the story, but as a speaker of the language it was extremely annoying to encounter error upon error every time something was written in French. It's like if someone published a book in a foreign language and had English parts here and there, and instead of writing "you're" when it's supposed to be, would write "your" instead. How many of you would go nuts?!
Right. It's annoying. If you're going to include another language in the book, it must be done properly or not at all.

But besides that minor annoyance, The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë was an incredible read and I am so looking forward to reading The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen!!!