The Minneapolis Star Tribune reviews the upcoming Laura Joh Rowland's new book The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë.Biographies of Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) chronicle her quiet life in Haworth, a remote Yorkshire village (...)Laura Joh Rowland also appears today in Dear Author... where she talks among other things about her new book:
It was one such biography that inspired Laura Joh Rowland to fictionalize the author's life in "The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë," a literary mystery. "She was the ultimate yearning, romantic, creative spirit," Rowland says in an essay on her website (www.laurajohrowland.com).
Rowland, the granddaughter of Chinese and Korean immigrants, clearly is a creative spirit herself. Her many earlier novels include the acclaimed "Snow Empress" and "Red Chrysanthemum." In an addendum to "The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë," she points out that its fictive world is built around a scaffolding of actual people and historical events.
As the story begins, Charlotte receives a letter from her publisher accusing her of breach of contract (he refuses to believe that Ellis, Acton and Currer Bell are different people). She and sister Anne travel to London -- a major and stressful undertaking for them both -- to resolve the issue. Just as Charlotte used the eponymous Jane to narrate "Jane Eyre," Rowland employs Charlotte to tell her story, cleverly capturing Brontë's precise voice and Victorian manner of expression. On the eve of the journey to London, Charlotte sets the Gothic tone of peril and suspense that so palpably dominates her narrative:
"Now as the hour grows late and the candles burn low, I wonder if I would have gone to London had I known that I was taking my first steps toward a man who personified evil and madness. Would I have gone, knowing what pleasure and pain, hope and despair, terror and glory would be mine?"
Charlotte compares the story she is about to relate to a medieval tapestry: "Each tiny creature pursued his own business as if unaware of the folk in distant sections of the tapestry; yet all were joined by the underlying warp." That underlying warp is a treacherous conspiracy of international proportions led by none other than the stealthy, elusive Kuan, a Chinese gangster who threatens the English monarchy and, indeed, the very fabric of the English empire.
On one of her first days in London, as she is returning to her lodgings off the squalid Pater Noster Row, Charlotte witnesses an alley stabbing. The dead woman is Isabel White. Charlotte had met Isabel, a woman about her own age, on the train to London. "She was tall and slender," writes Charlotte in her best bodice-ripper prose, "with pale gold hair and a face so pure of line and complexion that it seemed modeled from rosy alabaster by a great artist. Dark lashes shaded eyes of deep, clear aquamarine. Her mouth was full yet sensitive, the lips a natural pink."
As a crowd of spectators gathers, Charlotte decides to hunt down the murderer no matter what the cost. John Slade, a spy for Her Majesty's Foreign Office, is present in the mob of onlookers as police remove White's body, and it is he who provides the novel's love interest.
Meanwhile, as Charlotte was wending her way toward London, a 29-year-old gunsmith in Birmingham, England, entered his study, removed a pistol from its display case and shot himself in the temple. Charlotte intermittently interrupts the account of her own experiences and directs the reader's attention "towards other segments in the tapestry of my story," such as the incident in Birmingham.
Rowland's impressive, detailed descriptions of the sites and phenomena of Victorian England, particularly of London, give the narrative depth and compensate, perhaps, for some unlikely plot twists. Never mind plausibility, Rowland simply refuses to let readers lift their eyes from the page. (Katherine Bailey)
My creative spirit chafes at the confines of one series, one cast of characters, one fictional world. It wants to push its envelope, spread its wings, and fly where no author has ever gone before. Furthermore, I have learned that publishing is an iffy business and no series last forever. Authors must re-invent themselves to suit a constantly changing market. And I have a hankering for a place as far from medieval Japan as one can get: Victorian England, the world of famous 19th century author Charlotte Bronte.
I have been fascinated by Charlotte Bronte ever since I happened onto a biography of her at the University of Michigan library while I was a college student. She had a life as rich in drama, adventure, romance, and tragedy as that of Jane Eyre, her famous heroine. A parson’s daughter from a remote
Yorkshire village, she was an unlikely person to become the author of a best selling, scandalous novel that millions of readers love to this day. But Jane Eyre sailed over the transom of her publisher and straight into literary history.
Charlotte Bronte’s story has stayed in my mind through the years while I learn to write and pen my own books. When I grew restless for a new creative challenge, inspiration struck: I would write a historical suspense novel starring Charlotte and her famous family!
I began, writing slowly while also continuing my series. The research was terrific fun, the characters engrossing, the whole experience a thrill. But self invention isn’t easy. Mastering a new voice and adapting to a new period and culture is fantastically difficult. My process was an exercise in cultural cross-dressing, in which I had to mentally transform myself from a sword-wielding samurai to a demure Victorian spinster. The book took about seven years to complete. When I finished, I was certain that The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte was a winner.
It’s too bad nobody else thought so.
Charlotte made the rounds of the publishers and racked up 30 plus rejections. After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, I didn’t know if I was more upset because my house is flooded with 3 feet of water or because Charlotte hadn’t sold. I gave up hope of getting it published.
Fortunately, my agent didn’t. She sent Charlotte to The Overlook Press. Shortly thereafter, she called and said something like, “You’re not going to believe this, but we’ve got an offer.”
My wonderful editor, Juliet Grames, loved the book. She threw her keen editorial skill into making it the best that it could be. After much fine tuning, The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte has gone to press. It has gotten some great reviews and been chosen as a Book Sense Pick. The signs are favorable.
I once thought I’d used up all my luck when I sold my first book. I was wrong. I am proof that lightning does strike twice.
To all authors who are striving to venture in new directions and praying for that next lucky break: If it happened to me, it can happen to you. Take heart.
BrontëBlog has also read the novel and you may expect for the review and other surprises to appear here soon.
"Rowland's impressive, detailed descriptions of the sites and phenomena of Victorian England, particularly of London, give the narrative depth and compensate, perhaps, for some unlikely plot twists. Never mind plausibility, Rowland simply refuses to let readers lift their eyes from the page."
ReplyDeleteIn terms of unlikely plot twists, if you read Dickens or Bronte we are used to unlikely plot twists. That's probably a plus in my department. ;)
And the thing is, the way it is written this unlikely plot becomes plausible within the context of the novel.
ReplyDeleteSort of interesting Mrs. Rowland had such a hard time finding a publisher for the Secret Adventures. Her previous works in historical fiction in feudal Japan seemed to have a nice fan base, not sure about sales, etc. If the book shelves are so full of works based on Jane Austen what is so hard about one historical fiction book based on CB.
ReplyDeleteJane Austen has been much more flexible over time in general terms, which is both good and bad. It might have to do with the tone of her novels. However, Charlotte Brontë still remains this very serious figure who wrote gloomy novels. Oh, you know the legend.
ReplyDeleteJane Austen has almost become a household name and you don't need to be a very avid reader to know a few basic things about her. It's different with Charlotte, so I think the publishers' reticence may have to do with that.