Brief Candle

We have come across a review of a book called Brief Candle by Kate Pennington (apparently Jenny Oldfield's pseudonym). The book was published back in August 2004, over a year before BrontëBlog was born, so we'll take this review as the basis for its introduction here.

Once again, it's aimed for young adults (12+). It's nice to see publishers and authors alike keeping the Brontë story alive and bringing it to potential Brontë fans. In this instance, we have an alternative version of Wuthering Heights:

Framed by the fractured memories of a servant named Tabitha, the young Brontës (Charlotte, Emily, Anne and their brother Branwell) try to study and teach each other, making up fabulous stories and tales to keep away the grayness of their lives as motherless curate's children. Emily loves the heathered moors deeply, and roams them with her dog Captain. It's while exploring that Emily comes across Heslington, an outcast from another house, who's in love with that family's daughter, Martha. Basically, the entire story of Heathcliff and Cathy from Wuthering Heights is retold as A Series of Unfortunate Events involving Martha and Heslington; Emily is a witness and reluctant participant.

Unfortunately, today's reviewer was not really, how to say, satisfied with the book:

This endeavor completely undercuts the imagination of the remarkable trio of sibling writers and turns it into a trivial recasting of local historical gossip. Ugh.

Well, at least they tried :P

Categories: In_the_News, Books, Fiction