The Crimes of Charlotte Bronte: The Secrets of a Mysterious Family: A Novel

by James Tully and James H. Tully

Book Overview

Using fiction to explore further his investigation into the Brontes' lives, noted true-crime author James Tully creates a murder mystery darker than anything produced by their imaginations and reveals... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786706465
• ISBN13: 9780786706464
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers
• Length: 284 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

I liked it

I thought this book was great. Yes, it is a novel but a lot of the book is true. I looked it up on line. It is told by the lover of Charlotte's husband. According to the book he killed the brother then the two sisters then Charlotte. Took all of the money & his lover & fled to Ireland. He poisoned all of them.

Just entertainment

The other reviewers here are so defensive about their precious, sainted Brontes! This is just an entertaining read, and it makes you think about what might have really happened. I found all the correspondence quoted to be fascinating. The narrator was a ditz, and her personal story unbelievable, but Tully had to devise some sort of structure to make his points. It's just a book, people!

A thrilling read!

Perhaps there is a reason why I find this read so very satisfying and probable as I am among the few (on this review panel, as it were) who dislikes the Bronte sisters work. I think it is important to realize that most fiction is subjective and dependent upon an author's voice - therefore, because I was left disgusted by their work Tully's theory satisfies much of that displeasure. I found that much of this book explains many of the dark undercurrents so prevalent in Brontean novels. I don't know how much of Tully's findings are factual but he does make very valid points about the inconsistencies that relate to the siblings' deaths. The novel reads like an elaborate case-study and if the reader were to take into account the more psychological purpose of the book I feel they would derive a great deal of pleasure from it.

Intriguing but not convincing

Brontemeisters, admit it: Anything new on the Bronte front is riveting.And while Tully's poisoning theory of the mysterious Bronte deaths is both unprecedented and fascinating, his thesis lacks evidence and is too speculative to be convincing.Arthur Bell is portrayed as monstrous and manipulative - and he may well have been - but to have committed the crimes Tully/Martha accuses him of is to denigrate the intelligence and perspicacity of Emily, Branwell, and Patrick. Notice the sinsiter exclusion of Charlotte: she, the most egotistical and unscruplous of the Brontes, providentially procured exactly what she craved most after her siblings died...recognition and financial reward.After reading Tully's novel, I re-examined my Bronte biographies and found the evidence of communications and events, by turns, suspicious then commonplace. But it also made me re-think the origins of Emily's uncommon and extraordinary Wuthering Heights; her understanding of physical passion; Branwells's unexpectedly quick death; Patrick's hatred of and eventual acquiesence to Arthur Bell's presence; Anne's quietness and need for escape; and finally, Charlotte's smugness.I can't concur with Tully's theory, but it made me think. Poison permeates this book; some is presented as historical possibility and some is proffered for pure, sheer cerebral incitement. Take a sip.