Being Emily

That's the title of the latest novel by Anne Donovan. And yes, the Emily in the title is Emily Brontë.

Being Emily
by Anne Donovan

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Canongate Books (1 May 2008)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 184767044X
• ISBN-13: 978-1847670441

Things are never dull in the O'Connell family. Still, Fiona, squeezed beteen her quiet brother and her mischievous line-dancing twin sisters, thinks life in their tenement flat is far less interesting than Emily Bronte's.
But tragedy is not confined to Victorian novels. And life for Fiona in this happy domestic set-up is about to change forever, Following the devastating events of a single day her family can never be the same. But - perhaps - new relationships will develop, built on a solid foundation of love.
Moving, funny and ultimately heart=warming, Being Emily is a wonderful novel about one young girl trying to find her place in the world among the turmoil that only your own family can create.

The Scotland on Sunday interviews Anne Donovan:

For her second novel, Being Emily, she returns to the notion of the family in crisis, this time through the narrative of Fiona, a huge fan of Emily Brontë, whose transition from awkward kid to troubled young adult takes her on a journey of love, loss and finally redemption. (...)
Her stories, she explains, are about the ordinary person becoming extraordinarily strong in the face of adversity. "The idea of stereotyping and how we think someone might be a certain way because of how they speak is very interesting to me. I really wanted to play with those misconceptions. With Buddha Da it was about this very ordinary Glasgow guy becoming very Zen, while in Being Emily it's about juxtaposing the idea of someone like Emily Brontë walking through the moors alongside the reality and chaos of Fiona's real life in 21st century Glasgow: both tackle ideas of home, family and a sense of not belonging." (Anna Millar)

Nevertheless, the references to Emily Brontë don't seem so determinant after all. Random Distractions reviews the novel and thinks that:

The Emily of the title is Emily Bronte. We learn at the beginning of the book that Fiona is passionate about Emily Bronte and her work. I expected this to be a central theme but, apart from a school trip to Haworth, a visit to the National Portrait gallery to see Branwell's portrait of Emily and a very contrived link with the fire at the Bronte parsonage, there is nothing to explain the choice of title. (monix)

Categories: Books, Emily Brontë, Refrences