Readers who love YA historical fiction will fall in love with Kate Roper, a 15 year old girl from Haworth, West Yorkshire, who finds herself working at the Parsonage, home to Reverend Bronte and his four children, Bramwell, Charlotte, Emily and Anne.
"I am just going to write because I cannot help it."
Charlotte Brontë
'October 19th, 1846. Kate felt as though the date was etched upon her heart forever.'
When Mother and her beloved twin brothers are taken by the Haworth 'miasma', Father
drowns his sorrow in drink and younger sister Lizzie begins to run wild. It is left to Kate at
only fifteen to keep her family out of the dreaded workhouse.
She is offered a cleaning job at the Parsonage, home of Reverend Brontë, his son Branwell
and the three Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Anne, and Emily.
Kate harbours a secret; to write for the famous Blackwood Magazine, but poverty and
gender are against her. Luke, a farmer's son, has dreams of being an engineer, and wants to
marry Kate but believes writing stories is a waste of time. One day whilst repairing the fire in
the Parsonage sitting room, Kate sees a small volume of Shakespeare on the shelf. She
decides to borrow it, only to be caught by Charlotte Brontë. When Miss Charlotte discovers
Kate's passion for books, a friendship begins to develop. Charlotte and her sister Anne fill
Kate's head with ideas of equality between women and men. "Women feel just as men feel,"
declares Miss Charlotte. Kate confides in Charlotte that she writes and is encouraged to see
her writing as more than just a dream. Kate also begins to spot clues that the Brontë sisters
are writing novels.
Then she meets Seth, an artist, on the moor with equally free ideas about women and men.
Now Kate is faced with a dilemma. Marriage to the dependable Luke or a new independent
life, influenced by Seth and his artist friends.
The novel ends a year after it opens with Kate making the biggest decision of her life.
Miriam Halahmy has written a novel which brings the Brontës alive for a new generation of
readers. Themes of women's rights, the harsh realities of poverty and inequality are
illuminated in uncluttered, beautiful character-driven storytelling and through it all shines
the indomitable spirit of the human soul. In a world of increasing inequality and global
attacks on women's rights, this is a novel for our time.
