The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë

Some weeks ago, we informed about a book in progress by Laura Joh Rowland entitled The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë. The author has written to inform us that new information can be found on her website.

THE SECRET ADVENTURES OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË, by Laura Joh Rowland (author of the Sano Ichiro mystery series) is an epic, world-at-stake thriller starring the legendary 19th century author and her equally famous family. It’s a tour of Victorian England from gutter to palace, featuring a hero who combines Mr. Rochester with Agent 007 and a villain whose devious schemes threaten the very fabric of the British Empire. Charlotte Brontë is plunged headlong into the sort of thrilling adventures and passionate romance she never actually experienced, but secretly craved. Scheduled for publication by Overlook Press in April 2008.

The author's motivations for having chosen Charlotte Brontë as her heroine can be read here.

Inspired at least in part by Charlotte, I eventually became a writer, although of books as unrelated to her as one could imagine. But I never forgot her. What particularly stuck in my mind was the thought that no matter how much adventure she’d experienced, she always craved more. She was the ultimate yearning, romantic, creative spirit. Many years into my career as an author, I decided that Charlotte would make the perfect heroine for a historical suspense novel. Thus was born The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë.
As I wrote the book, I combined the rich material of her life with the political and sexual intrigue beneath the prim morality of Victorian England. I tried to give Charlotte the adventure she craved. The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë is my heartfelt tribute to one of the greatest authors of all time.

An excerpt from the book, a gallery of 'characters' and a quiz where you can win an advanced reading copy of the book (deadline: October 31) are the other interesting things to discover in the website.

Categories: Books, Fiction