A gateway to the world of the Brontës

The new book by Denise Giardina, Emily's Ghost, is receiving some attention in the US regional media:

The Asheville Citizen-Times has a ravishing review:

‘If given the chance to go abroad,” Emily Brontë says in Denise Giardina's new novel, “Emily's Ghost,” she'd “choose the American frontier, perhaps the mountains of Virginia or the Carolinas.”
In imagining the life of the “Wuthering Heights” author, Giardina makes more than a geographical connection to Southern Appalachia. Her heroine and the curate with whom she falls in love — William Weightman — are deeply attached to oppressed miners and weavers, as are the heroes of others of her novels.
Giardina's 1987 novel, “Storming Heaven,” has become a classic about Southern Appalachia, depicting the deadly repression of unionizing mine workers at Blair Mountain in 1921. Her subsequent novel, “The Unquiet Earth,” remained in West Virginia-Kentucky territory, following her characters through to the 1990s and strip mining.
The making of romance
“I want to tell a story that has people turning the page,” Giardina said in an interview with the Citizen-Times. She connects her subjects “to classic types of literature — romance, adventure, or people taking stands.”
Romance exerts an irresistible pull in “Emily's Ghost” as two people unlikely to find mates — Weightman, a man on a mission; and Emily, an uncompromising idealist — slowly discover that they can be themselves with each other.
They operate in an environment we know well: Haworth, the Brontë family's working class parsonage on the moors — the basis of Emily's “Wuthering Heights” and Charlotte Bronte's “Jane Eyre.” So there's that fun. Pre-published Charlotte is portrayed as one who hurts people in her defense of propriety.
Memorable characters
Right from the start, Giardina creates a character in Emily that is powerfully direct.
When a nose-rubbing headmistress punishes Emily's sister Elizabeth for being slow, Emily asks the teacher “if her nose was not so long because she pulled on it.”
And when the 6-year-old sees the headmistress pull her consumptive sister, Maria Brontë, out of bed, she bites the woman in the calf.
“I'd been interested in the Brontës since before I could read,” Giardina said “because my mother had these editions of ‘Wuthering Heights' and ‘Jane Eyre,' and I used to look at the pictures. As I grew older, I read every single biography I could get my hands on.”
You'll want to go read or re-read “Wuthering Heights” after reading Giardina's tale.
The lost novel
You will not be able to read Emily Brontë's second novel — and last, because she died of consumption — because of what happened to it.
“Heaven and Earth,” a story about a minister who champions workers, is lost. We know there had been such a manuscript, Giardina says, because a letter from a publisher had been found in Emily's desk after her death, saying “he was looking forward to receiving her next novel.”
You can see how much “Emily's Ghost” is a work of the imagination. So much has to be filled in, including the second novel's fate.
Believing
Giardina imagines a conversation between Weightman, three Brontë sisters and Mr. Dury, the minister from the town in which Weightman had just given a lecture.
Anne Brontë springs the sisters' test question on Dury: “What do you think of the possibility of universal salvation?”
“You mean that everyone would go to Heaven? ... Preposterous!” Dury cries. “Why bother to be a good Christian?”
“Is that the reason one is a good Christian?” Emily asks.
Giardina's style is to include a lot of dialogue, such as the above, and it has to be made up. “I ought to write a play,” Giardina muses, referring to one of her strengths, being a ventriloquist for voices from various places and periods.
Giardina has given readers a great favor, a gateway to the world of the Brontës that is as contemporary as any day's most impressive believers. (Rob Neufeld)

Another good review comes from Deseret News:

Author Denise Giardina celebrates the Bronte in her work "Emily's Ghost: A Novel of the Bronte Sisters." Dreams, disappointments, triumphs and lost loves all come to the fore in this fictionalized account of their lives.
Death is no stranger to the three youngest Bronte sisters, who have already lost their mother. But that doesn't make things easier when their two oldest sisters die from consumption.
Charlotte, Emily and Anne take the losses hard but are grateful they can return home from the horrible Clergy Daughter's School. At school, discipline rules the day. At home, however, freethinking and creativity are encouraged.
The sisters live in the parish of Haworth in northern England with their widowed father, the curate, an aunt and, on occasion, their brother, Branwell.
Plain in looks and lacking wealth, the sisters have no real chance of marriage and are forced to seek out other ways of securing their futures. While Charlotte holds out hope for romance and true love, Anne seeks work as a governess. Emily, who has no desire to marry or teach, remains at home with her father, doing her part to help people in the village who are struggling to eke out a living.
When a young clergyman named William Weightman comes to serve as their father's assistant, the sisters find themselves in new territory. Charlotte and Anne are taken with the dashing man, but it's quiet Emily who catches his eye.
And it's Emily who is at the center of this tale. As an adult, Emily defies conventions, roaming the moors at night and conversing with spirits she's known since her days at boarding school. While most find her behavior odd, William finds it intriguing. Over time, the two form a bond that even death cannot break.
"Emily's Ghost" is an intimate look at the Bronte family, and though fictionalized, many of the events did in fact happen. While readers should keep in mind that this is a romanticized novel, one can't help but get caught up in the daily lives of these fascinating women.
Here, Charlotte, Emily and Anne become individuals. As the author of "Wuthering Heights," Emily's passion and disregard for some conventions are perfectly in line. However, the persnickety, prim and somewhat prudish characterization of Charlotte makes one wonder how such a person could produce "Jane Eyre."
Giardina gracefully captures the essence of the time period, adopting pacing and style while maintaining her own voice. She transports the readers to mystical moors with ease, making the time and place feel as familiar as our own.
"Emily's Ghost" is a captivating novel that tugs at the heartstrings. Perhaps not on par with the novels written by the Bronte, it has a timeless feel that will call to Bronte fans, as well as devotees of gothic novels. (Jessica Harrison)

And the Sunday Gazette-Mail has a very interesting Q&A with the author:

Q: Which book did you initially like better -- "Jane Eyre" or "Wuthering Heights"?
A: I read "Jane Eyre" first and enjoyed it a lot. It does have unique features such as the madwoman in the attic and Rochester's blindness, but it also has a conventional happy ending. When I read "Wuthering Heights" I thought "Jane Eyre" too conventional in comparison. "Wuthering Heights" is unique, there is nothing like it. Heathcliff digging up Cathy's grave -- oh my goodness. That's not just romance, that's obsession. "Jane Eyre" is trifling in comparison. It doesn't haunt in nearly the same way as "Wuthering Heights."

Q: Why did you pick Emily to focus on rather than Charlotte or Anne?
A: I knew all along I would not focus on Charlotte, since she has been the center of attention for much too long. I did consider Anne, who is often forgotten, and unjustly so. But when I plotted out the timelines of the Brontës' lives, I realized Anne was gone for most of the time, employed as a governess. And Emily was right there in Haworth in the middle of the action. So I went with her, and I'm glad I did.

Q: I didn't like Charlotte very much. Do you?
A: Charlotte has many good points. She was the force, I think, in getting the Brontë sisters published and noticed. Because she wanted so desperately to be known outside Haworth, she was the one who ensured the Brontë sisters would indeed be known. Given the restrictions on women in her day, I think she deserves a great deal of credit for pushing against that. Having said that, I think she also should be criticized for her unfortunate attempts to control her sisters' legacy. I've shown that in my novel, so I don't want to go into great detail. But overall, I do like Charlotte. She was stuck in her time period, and she made the most she could of it.

Q: You have said "Emily's Ghost" is connected with your earlier work. In what way?
A: Both "Storming Heaven" and "The Unquiet Earth" were strongly influenced by "Wuthering Heights." In "Storming Heaven" I give a tip of the hat to Emily Brontë early on, in Carrie Bishop's first monologue when she mentions "Wuthering Heights." The end of "Storming Heaven" is also a reversion of "Wuthering Heights." "The Unquiet Earth" is my own version of "Wuthering Heights." All the main characters are based upon the characters in "Wuthering Heights." My Web site, www.denisegiardina.com, describes which characters are which.

Q: You also said you relied on original research -- such as?
A: I'm not sure what this question refers to. I always try to stay as close to the original sources as possible (historically) if that's what you mean. Primary sources, as historians call them. As opposed to relying on what historians call secondary sources, which are accounts that come after the lives of the people being studied. So I focus on primary sources as much as possible in my research.

Q: What evidence is there that Emily was working on a second novel?
A: They have found a paper in a desk, probably Emily's though possibly Anne's, from their publisher, saying he is glad the new novel is almost finished and he looks forward to publishing it. Since Anne already had a new novel ("Tenant of Wildfell Hall"), it is likely the note refers to Emily's novel. And yet there is no inkling what happened to it. Some Brontë scholars suggest Emily destroyed it herself. As a novelist, I find that highly unlikely. Other Brontë scholars suggest Charlotte destroyed Emily's work. Thus the ending of my book.

Q: I noticed that the nasty policeman was named Massey. Were there any other similar zingers that I overlooked?
A: I don't think so. I did want to get that one in. Massey is evil and deserves any zingers in that regard.

Q: Did William Wilberforce really sponsor the Rev. Patrick Brontë to Cambridge?
A: Yes.

Q: There's a swipe at Jane Austen in your book. Don't you like my favorite author?
A: Actually I love Jane Austen. Especially "Pride and Prejudice," "Sense and Sensibility" and "Persuasion." But the Brontës didn't particularly like her (there is a mention in Charlotte's letters to that affect). I think Austen was, for them, an earlier generation and so seen as kind of stodgy. And even for Charlotte, she was too staid and conventional. It's sort of like people my age (Baby Boomers) rebelling against our parents. I think the Brontës saw Austen as too old-fashioned.

Q: Was it hard to get published in the mid-19th century? Or was it like today where so many people pay to have their book published?
A: It was common to pay to get published back then, sort of like online publishing today. The Brontës did pay to get their poems published, and Emily and Anne paid to have their novels published. However Charlotte decided to take "Jane Eyre" to someone who would publish without being paid ahead of time. That was kicking against the grain of her time, but it proved a wise move.

Q: The curator William Weightman seems to me a difficult character to develop. If you make him too appealing, he's one-dimensional; invest him with the wrong flaws, and Emily wouldn't have loved him. Your thoughts, please.
A: First the facts -- William Weightman seems to have been dearly loved by his parishioners. Patrick Brontë eulogized him after his death, and made that clear. There is also a plaque in Haworth church, which says the same (which Branwell Brontë probably wrote). I tried to show the man who deserved these accolades. And yes, that may make him too "good." I don't know what to do about that, to be honest. I have known good men like that, so I know they exist. I also know they have flaws, which I have tried to show. But I hope he comes across as a human being.

Q: How did you come up with the ambiguous title "Emily's Ghost"?
A: I began to realize that there are lots of ghosts in the novel. The ghosts Emily thinks about as a child, her sisters who die, the dead who are buried under her house, and then those who continue to die throughout the novel. I thought it would also be ambiguous. Is Emily the ghost? Or are there others? I thought the title would make people think.

Martin Stannard, author of the upcoming Muriel Spark: The Biography, talks about the biographee in The Times and mentions an anecdote involving Muriel Spark's book about Emily Brontë:

“This is the archive just acquired by the National Library of Scotland. They were delighted. Quite a coup for them.” She fished out a dog-eared folder marked with a date in the 1950s. “In those days”, she said, “I had to try to write a biog­raphy of Emily Brontë and care for my child on £50. It wasn’t much.” She often spoke of her early poverty.

The Chicago Tribune talks about books and their readers:

My copy of Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights" is the paperback Scholastic Book Services edition that I've owned since 6th grade, featuring a bleak, moody, blue-and-gray cover. (Julia Keller)

Carlene Bauer, author of Not That Kind of Girl, talks in the New York Post about her personal experiences with a Brontë reference:

I did, however, have a crush. A boy like Heathcliff from "Wuthering Heights," who dressed in dark clothes and wore Chuck Taylors. He was Godless with a capital 'g' -- he liked Nine Inch Nails! -- and seemed to embody sin.

Gunonglaut posts about Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights, Million Dollar Way compares Wuthering Heights structure with the TV Series Cold Case, there's a Jane Eyre 2006 Icontest going on Livejournal. Finally alert reader Annarita alerts us to the existence of several Brontë poems animations on poetryanimations's Youtube channel: Emily Brontë's Remembrance, Anne Brontë's O God! If this indeed be all and Charlotte Brontë's Mementos.

Categories: Books, Fiction, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, Poetry, References, Wuthering Heights