REVIEWS:

“I was wowed and moved"—Tracy Chevalier

“Magnificent...a very personal book about what the short life of Anne Brontë can tell us about wringing every drop out of existence”—Daisy Goodwin, Times

“Wonderful...Ellis lives and breathes Anne's life...the feeling of being a Brontë becomes movie-screen vivid”—Juliet Nicolson, Spectator

“Insights aplenty”—Lucasta Miller, Sunday Times

“A deeply sympathetic and interesting re-evaluation of a woman ahead of her time who has much to teach us all about living courageously”—Lucy Scholes, Independent

“Furious and direct...a timely reappraisal”—Johanna Thomas-Corr, Evening Standard

”A fascinating and compelling read...what Ellis does extraordinarily well is to convey the emotion of her own deeply personal voyage of discovery about Anne and herself...it succeeds in making you long to rush off and reread Anne's novels and poetry; what more could you ask for?”—Juliet Barker, Mail on Sunday

“A deeply moving depiction of how reading and writing allows us to forge an emotional and intellectual connection with someone who died over a century before we were born. By the time Ellis reaches Anne's grave, on a sunny hillside in Scarborough, she's in tears, and so was I”—Anna Carey, Irish Times

“Genuinely revisionist...penetrating...”—Margaret Drabble, TLS

”A lively, intelligent tribute to the forgotten Brontë sister...Her indignation is salutary”—Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Observer

”Lovely and imaginative...inspiring”—Eithne Farry, Express

“Refreshingly old-fashioned”—Alice Spawls, LRB

“Fascinating...a refreshing, accessible piece of literary scholarship”—Jennifer Lipman, Jewish Chronicle

“Ellis's bracing look at Anne forces a radical rethink”—Psychologies magazine

“Brave, bracing”—Simple Things magazine

“Enthralling”—The Bookseller

“Hopeful...glorious”—Alice Farrant, Of Books

“Good on all aspects of Brontë's bravery”—Claire Harman, Guardian

“A robust, emotionally charged defence of the writer”—Ella Walker, Irish Examiner

“No one who reads this is likely to disagree that Anne has been in her sisters' shadows for too long”—James Walton, Daily Mail

“All Brontë fans need this”—The Book Trail

MORE TO READ

For a taster, here are some things I've written about Anne Brontë

Where are all the heroine mothers in fiction (and did Anne Brontë write the best one)?

Anne Brontë: the sister who got there first

The Brontës' very real and raw Irish roots

The Brontës and Hester Chapone
Rediscovering Anne Brontë

Anne Brontë was the most radical sister
How sibling rivalry made Anne the "other"
She Too: Why We Should Appreciate the modern Anne Brontë