In 1997, Susan Geason edited a book called
Regarding Jane Eyre, which was a collection of essays on Jane Eyre by well-known scholars such as Juliet Barker, Lyndall Gordon and Susan Geason herself.
So imagine our surprise when we recently came across a passing reference to a new book on the Brontës by Susan Geason. Our curiosity needed to be satisfied and so we got in touch with Susan Geason, who is kindness itself. She promptly replied with further info on the book and promised she would put an excerpt from her new book on
her website. As you can imagine, she was as good as her word and yesterday she wrote to let us know she had updated her website.
This is how she herself describes her book Under the Canopy of Heaven:
It's about Mary Taylor, who was one of Charlotte's best friends. She emigrated to New Zealand and opened a shop & made lots of money. Thirteen years later, having survived two earthquakes and the Maori wars, she returned to England, where she lived in fine style and wrote essays for a feminist journal which were collected in a book called The First Duty of Women (which was to become economically independent). I wrote the novel and an exegesis called What Mary Knew for a PhD in creative writing at Queensland University in Australia. It charts Mary's relationship with Charlotte Bronte while also telling Mary's life story and concludes that Mary was in Charlotte's confidence about everything from Branwell's drunkenness to her infatuation with M. Heger. When I've finished writing thebook I'm working on, I shall either rewrite the novel or turn the exegesis into a creative non-fiction book. To read a chapter of the novel, go to
http://www.susangeason.com/ then to The Brontes page.
We wholeheartedly agree with Ms Geason's theory.
Mary Taylor was sent a copy of Jane Eyre way before other people were let into the secret of Charlotte Brontë's authorship.
We encourage you to go to Susan Geason's website and read this chapter. It's really, really good. Don't hesitate to make your opinion known by leaving us a comment!
Categories: Books, Biography, Websites
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