Brontë Project review

The Oregonian reviews Portland-native Jennifer Vandever's book The Brontë Project: A Novel of Passion, Desire, and Good PR, which was released three days ago. Ms Vandever is a screenwriter and used to keep this novel a secret. This is how it was born:

The novel started as another idea for a movie. What if a woman who studied Romantic literature -- that's romantic with a capital R, such as the 19th-century novels by Charlotte and Emily Bronte -- was faced with the reality of her fiance leaving? It was an interesting idea, but Vandever thought it was "too literary, and too literal" for a movie and started trying to write it as a novel.

And the basic plotline is: "the story of a young woman who searches for some of Charlotte Bronte's lost love letters while dealing with an academic rival and romantic complications".

She likes the Brontës but doesn't hide her opinion on Heathcliff and Cathy: "the reality is they're these very strange, emotionally overwrought characters".

BrontëBlog readers around the Portland area might be interested to know that she'll be reading a fragment from her book at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, at Powell's City of Books, 1005 W. Burnside St. For more information on upcoming events visit her website.

Categories: Books, Fiction, In_the_News