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Brontë Sisters Mystery #1
The Vanished Bride
Before they became legendary writers, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, and Anne Brontë were detectors in this charming historical mystery...
Yorkshire, 1845. A young wife and mother has gone missing from her home, leaving behind two small children and a large pool of blood. Just a few miles away, a humble parson's daughters--the Brontë sisters--learn of the crime. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë are horrified and intrigued by the mysterious disappearance.
These three creative, energetic, and resourceful women quickly realize that they have all the skills required to make for excellent "lady detectors." Not yet published novelists, they have well-honed imaginations and are expert readers. And, as Charlotte remarks, "detecting is reading between the lines--it's seeing what is not there."
As they investigate, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne are confronted with a society that believes a woman's place is in the home, not scouring the countryside looking for clues. But nothing will stop the sisters from discovering what happened to the vanished bride, even as they find their own lives are in great peril...
Yorkshire, 1845. A young wife and mother has gone missing from her home, leaving behind two small children and a large pool of blood. Just a few miles away, a humble parson's daughters--the Brontë sisters--learn of the crime. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë are horrified and intrigued by the mysterious disappearance.
These three creative, energetic, and resourceful women quickly realize that they have all the skills required to make for excellent "lady detectors." Not yet published novelists, they have well-honed imaginations and are expert readers. And, as Charlotte remarks, "detecting is reading between the lines--it's seeing what is not there."
As they investigate, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne are confronted with a society that believes a woman's place is in the home, not scouring the countryside looking for clues. But nothing will stop the sisters from discovering what happened to the vanished bride, even as they find their own lives are in great peril...
293 pages, Hardcover
First published September 10, 2019
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December 21, 2019
The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis is a 2019 Berkley publication.
The Bronte sisters as amateur sleuths? Yes, please!
I have read a few mystery novels featuring real life persons as detectives, but with mixed results.
This is the first one I’ve encountered in which the three Bronte sisters work together to solve a mystery, and I must admit I was immediately intrigued by the all the possibilities- although, I was also cautiously optimistic.
However, the author did a stellar job of breathing life into these legendary authors, creating their distinct personalities, and giving readers a few clues as to why they were inspired to write the types of stories they eventually became famous for.
In this first installment of what promises to be a solid cozy mystery series, the ladies are pulled into a most puzzling case in which a young wife vanishes, leaving behind a bloody, gruesome scene, and two small children without a mother. Charlotte, Emily and Anne are horrified, but also titillated, deciding they should get to the bottom of the mystery themselves.
However, they soon learn that many feel female detectors are unladylike and that the women should not be out roaming the countryside alone, scouring for clues. However, that may be the least of their concerns, as their probing into the missing persons case could put them in grave danger.
I am quite impressed with this debut novel! The author has obviously studied the real- life counterparts of her main characters. Readers get a delightful and realistic depiction of their personalities before they became famous authors. The banter between the sisters is crisp and sharp, while the mystery is very well constructed and executed.
The story is atmospheric, occasionally creepy, and is an absorbing whodunit that kept me interested and guessing from start to finish. I loved it!! My kind of story all the way!!
I am very much looking forward to the second book in this series!
The Bronte sisters as amateur sleuths? Yes, please!
I have read a few mystery novels featuring real life persons as detectives, but with mixed results.
This is the first one I’ve encountered in which the three Bronte sisters work together to solve a mystery, and I must admit I was immediately intrigued by the all the possibilities- although, I was also cautiously optimistic.
However, the author did a stellar job of breathing life into these legendary authors, creating their distinct personalities, and giving readers a few clues as to why they were inspired to write the types of stories they eventually became famous for.
In this first installment of what promises to be a solid cozy mystery series, the ladies are pulled into a most puzzling case in which a young wife vanishes, leaving behind a bloody, gruesome scene, and two small children without a mother. Charlotte, Emily and Anne are horrified, but also titillated, deciding they should get to the bottom of the mystery themselves.
However, they soon learn that many feel female detectors are unladylike and that the women should not be out roaming the countryside alone, scouring for clues. However, that may be the least of their concerns, as their probing into the missing persons case could put them in grave danger.
I am quite impressed with this debut novel! The author has obviously studied the real- life counterparts of her main characters. Readers get a delightful and realistic depiction of their personalities before they became famous authors. The banter between the sisters is crisp and sharp, while the mystery is very well constructed and executed.
The story is atmospheric, occasionally creepy, and is an absorbing whodunit that kept me interested and guessing from start to finish. I loved it!! My kind of story all the way!!
I am very much looking forward to the second book in this series!
December 16, 2022
The Vanished Bride: A Brontë Sisters Mystery, Book 1
Bella Ellis (Author), Elizabeth Knowelden (Narrator)
The Bronte sisters. I didn't realize how much I'd forgotten about the Bronte family and their literary works. So when I began the audiobook I wasn't connecting to the sisters or the story and thought about setting the book aside. But instead I researched the Bronte family and so much came back to me. I've read more of their books than not and I was able to refresh my mind on their lives and deaths. Once I had refreshed my memory I enjoyed the audiobook so much more. There are so many little things that they mention that makes sense once I remembered which sister wrote what book and the details of their lives. The story has a lot of subtle humor in it the more you know about the sisters.
1945 Haworth Parsonage The sisters read about a new occupation of "detecting" and they decide to become "detectors" when there is a missing woman at a nearby home. They must be very secretive about what they are doing since in this time period most (meaning most men) didn't even think a woman had a reason to be able to read or write. Women certainly should not be thinking for themselves or allowing their minds to wander or hankering for more entertainment than caring for the house and the man of the house. This story allows the distinct personalities of the sisters to come out and we see how their thoughts and experiences become parts of their writing. The sisters squabble often, with Emily seeming to be the most dominating, but quiet Anne speaks her mind when it's important to do so. Both Emily and Anne tease Charlotte for her romantic leanings. I enjoyed the times I'd see the women in connection to the books they wrote.
The story starts slowly but eventually things start happening, we find out more and more secrets, and always, it seems that men are usually at the root of all evil. Life was extremely hard during this time period, lives were short, babies usually didn't live long, giving birth could be deadly for the mother, and disease was rampant. Hearing the sister talk about what the future might bring is bittersweet if you know how things really play out. But I enjoyed this imagining of the sisters as detectors. They are very good at it and I look forward to enjoying more of this series.
Published September 10th 2019 by Penguin Audio
Bella Ellis (Author), Elizabeth Knowelden (Narrator)
The Bronte sisters. I didn't realize how much I'd forgotten about the Bronte family and their literary works. So when I began the audiobook I wasn't connecting to the sisters or the story and thought about setting the book aside. But instead I researched the Bronte family and so much came back to me. I've read more of their books than not and I was able to refresh my mind on their lives and deaths. Once I had refreshed my memory I enjoyed the audiobook so much more. There are so many little things that they mention that makes sense once I remembered which sister wrote what book and the details of their lives. The story has a lot of subtle humor in it the more you know about the sisters.
1945 Haworth Parsonage The sisters read about a new occupation of "detecting" and they decide to become "detectors" when there is a missing woman at a nearby home. They must be very secretive about what they are doing since in this time period most (meaning most men) didn't even think a woman had a reason to be able to read or write. Women certainly should not be thinking for themselves or allowing their minds to wander or hankering for more entertainment than caring for the house and the man of the house. This story allows the distinct personalities of the sisters to come out and we see how their thoughts and experiences become parts of their writing. The sisters squabble often, with Emily seeming to be the most dominating, but quiet Anne speaks her mind when it's important to do so. Both Emily and Anne tease Charlotte for her romantic leanings. I enjoyed the times I'd see the women in connection to the books they wrote.
The story starts slowly but eventually things start happening, we find out more and more secrets, and always, it seems that men are usually at the root of all evil. Life was extremely hard during this time period, lives were short, babies usually didn't live long, giving birth could be deadly for the mother, and disease was rampant. Hearing the sister talk about what the future might bring is bittersweet if you know how things really play out. But I enjoyed this imagining of the sisters as detectors. They are very good at it and I look forward to enjoying more of this series.
Published September 10th 2019 by Penguin Audio
September 9, 2019
I am a huge admirer of Bronte sisters ' work, so this mystery, featuring Emily, Charlotte, Anne, and Branwell Bronte was just a treat. In the Vanished Bride Yorkshire Mooresville we all love and cherish because of the sisters's immortal works become a setting of a crime mystery-a young woman, a devoted mother and stepmother, disappears from her room in Chester Grange estate. There is so much blood left behind that few people doubt she came to a grave harm. Emily, Charlotte, and Anne are spending summer in their father's house and are feeling bored. Their sense of how precious and awfully short and precarious life is, creative spirit, and wild imagination make them take an active interest in everything that is happening around them, far and near. One of these things is the formation of the first police force detective department, the other the above-mentioned strange occurrence in their own neighborhood. The sisters decide to try to solve the mystery by putting their education, curiosity, deductive powers, social skills and sense of justice in use.
Thank you to Edelweiss and Berkley for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
Thank you to Edelweiss and Berkley for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
September 14, 2019
Bella Ellis has crafted a clever and atmospheric tale that will transport you to 1845 Victorian England. This was a captivating historical Mystery featuring the Brontë sisters Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. The story takes place before the Brontës wrote their classic masterpieces and Inc. there curious, clever, and dynamic personalities. There was also much foreshadowing of their future famous works. It was so impressive how creative Miss Ellis was with her approach to the story. So well written and researched it completely captured the essence of this time and place as well as these characters. And it was a brilliant mystery to boot.
The story starts off with the Brontë sisters finding themselves all under the same roof for the first time in a long time. Then two things happen their friend Matilda's mistress has disappeared leaving behind a pool of blood, and there is an article in the newspaper about male detectives. Always willing to live outside the norm the sisters decide to head to the scene of the crime and do some detecting of their own. The mystery was interesting, intriguing, and well plotted. I read this book as part of a buddy read and none of us had it all figured out. Always great to have a surprise ending, but even better when it is not out of left field. There were definitely clues and hints leading up to the ending I just didn't clue into them. This was an extremely well executed historical mystery and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.
This book in three emojis: 🕵🏻♀️ 💍 🔥
*** Big thanks to Berkley for my copy of this book ***
November 8, 2019
This has all the essential ingredients of a really good book. The main ingredient is a well written plot line, add in characters that you can visualise, fold in a tale that unfolds well and with clarity, add a dash of humour, wit and sibling banter, a soupçon of cleverness and intrigue, a large spoonful of mystery and secrecy, add atmospheric settings, a splash of ghostliness and stir well! The result? Hopefully, a best seller because this is truly what Bella Ellis deserves.
This is a terrific read and I love that this engaging story is embedded in truths about the Brontë sisters as they are the inspiration for this story. The sisters turn Lady Detectors when they try to learn of the intriguing case of Elizabeth Chester of Chester Grange, whose husband is cruel and vicious. Elizabeth’s room is found covered in copious amounts of blood but there is no sign of its occupant. What happens afterwards as the sisters doggedly pursue the truth is a tale full of menace, creepiness, intrigue and deception. I love the idea of the sisters detecting and Emily proves herself very adept and bold , Anne charms witnesses while fierce, independent Charlotte adds dryness and intelligence , aided and supported when sufficiently sober, by Branwell who proves to have perspicacity, wit and intuition. The family come alive before your very eyes as they traipse around the wildly beautiful Haworth location with their easy sibling camaraderie but also their brutal honesty to each other. Their father, Patrick is not for one minute deceived by the inventive lies they tell as the women travel across Yorkshire to search for the truth. He is not a man of his times in that he has almost modern views and allows his daughters latitude. There are some wonderful descriptions and some terrific macabre incidents that send shivers down your spine. There is one jaw dropping moment when Emily breaks into Chester Grange that is deliciously spooky. I like that the story is set in its historical context with real events such as the growth of industry and its effects on expanding West Yorkshire towns which the woman witness and is especially evident in Leeds. I like the inclusion of strong independent women (The Brontë sisters of course, Isabelle Lucas, Dr Prescott's wife] who refuse to be under the control of men as of course, was the norm. The ending is maybe a bit contrived but it fits with a Gothic Tale and so is a minor point.
Overall, I enjoyed this book a great deal and will definitely read subsequent stories as I love the premise. Thank you very much for the ARC.
This is a terrific read and I love that this engaging story is embedded in truths about the Brontë sisters as they are the inspiration for this story. The sisters turn Lady Detectors when they try to learn of the intriguing case of Elizabeth Chester of Chester Grange, whose husband is cruel and vicious. Elizabeth’s room is found covered in copious amounts of blood but there is no sign of its occupant. What happens afterwards as the sisters doggedly pursue the truth is a tale full of menace, creepiness, intrigue and deception. I love the idea of the sisters detecting and Emily proves herself very adept and bold , Anne charms witnesses while fierce, independent Charlotte adds dryness and intelligence , aided and supported when sufficiently sober, by Branwell who proves to have perspicacity, wit and intuition. The family come alive before your very eyes as they traipse around the wildly beautiful Haworth location with their easy sibling camaraderie but also their brutal honesty to each other. Their father, Patrick is not for one minute deceived by the inventive lies they tell as the women travel across Yorkshire to search for the truth. He is not a man of his times in that he has almost modern views and allows his daughters latitude. There are some wonderful descriptions and some terrific macabre incidents that send shivers down your spine. There is one jaw dropping moment when Emily breaks into Chester Grange that is deliciously spooky. I like that the story is set in its historical context with real events such as the growth of industry and its effects on expanding West Yorkshire towns which the woman witness and is especially evident in Leeds. I like the inclusion of strong independent women (The Brontë sisters of course, Isabelle Lucas, Dr Prescott's wife] who refuse to be under the control of men as of course, was the norm. The ending is maybe a bit contrived but it fits with a Gothic Tale and so is a minor point.
Overall, I enjoyed this book a great deal and will definitely read subsequent stories as I love the premise. Thank you very much for the ARC.
December 14, 2020
4.5 Stars → THE VANISHED BRIDE is a unique historical mystery that casts the famous Brontë sisters as amateur sleuths who set out to solve a local missing persons case. It's 1845, and Charlotte, Emily, and Anne are once again living at home with their father Patrick and brother Branwell, before they became published authors. The sisters are struggling to find their place in the world as unmarried women who would prefer to set their own course in life. When they hear a young wife has disappeared under gruesome circumstances, the Brontës become "lady detectors" and use their smarts & daring to find out what happened.
I enjoyed this book very much! Not only was I intrigued by the twisty mystery, I absolutely loved being able to live in the world of the Brontës for a little while. From what I've previously learned about them, I think the author did a fantastic job capturing the sisters' personalities, conflicts, and closeness to one another. Though the mystery was fictional, it had many elements that would have influenced this Charlotte to write Jane Eyre. THE VANISHED BRIDE is a must read for Brontë fans — intriguing, well-written, and great fun.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed this book very much! Not only was I intrigued by the twisty mystery, I absolutely loved being able to live in the world of the Brontës for a little while. From what I've previously learned about them, I think the author did a fantastic job capturing the sisters' personalities, conflicts, and closeness to one another. Though the mystery was fictional, it had many elements that would have influenced this Charlotte to write Jane Eyre. THE VANISHED BRIDE is a must read for Brontë fans — intriguing, well-written, and great fun.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
April 11, 2024
One of the easiest 5 stars ✨ I have ever given!
This book is the first in a 4 part series of which is definitely in my TOP 3 series I have read this year!
I fell in love with this book from the first line. No, I am not joking. It’s like people - you sometimes just know when you are going to get on together and I got on very well with this book!
I was totally and utterly captivated by this book. The plot was exceptionally timed and had me eager to read the next chapter. Yet I was desperate to stretch it out at far as possible because I never wanted it to end.
It’s no secret that I adore the Bronte sisters writing but when I found out about a series ABOUT THEM…well, I just had to get my hands on it and at not one moment did it disappoint!
Along with the traditional prose of the novel, Bella Ellis also includes various poems written by the sisters. She adds them where appropriate and they definitely add a sense of depth to the plot and connection to the sisters. At the beginning of the book we are blessed with a poem written by Charlotte called ‘Evening Solace’:
‘The human heart has hidden treasures,
In secret kept, in silence sealed;-
The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures,
Whose charms were broken if revealed.’
Set in Yorkshire, 1845, Ellis has written the most intricate, detailed and clever mystery I have read in quite some time. It was quite complex although it flowed so easily that the reader was never left confused or disappointed…
It was so fun watching the sisters unveiling the mystery together and furthermore, getting a glimpse into their different personalities. For instance Emily has a darker sense of humour than the others. One of her best lines that stuck in my memory was “I don’t mind danger… it’s polite conversation I can’t abide.” She also said: “You will never know me inside and out…I am as mysterious as a sphinx”.
Whereas Charlotte obviously has a much more worldly presence about her character; for example, she shared “our worth does not lie in being wanted and in being desired by a man. It does not even lie in the joy of motherhood. Our worth is our own.”
And then, of course, there was Anne, the youngest sister who was incredibly intrigued and excited by the whole notion, finding clues such as a tooth along the way! They were all desperate to find out more, putting themselves in danger at various points, but their hard work and boundless energy followed a path to the truth.
More than anything, this was an absolute treasure of a read; a treat for the mind and soul. I have already bought the next in the series and cannot wait to dive into another Bronte adventure…(especially after the cliffhanger at the end of this one!)
This book is the first in a 4 part series of which is definitely in my TOP 3 series I have read this year!
I fell in love with this book from the first line. No, I am not joking. It’s like people - you sometimes just know when you are going to get on together and I got on very well with this book!
I was totally and utterly captivated by this book. The plot was exceptionally timed and had me eager to read the next chapter. Yet I was desperate to stretch it out at far as possible because I never wanted it to end.
It’s no secret that I adore the Bronte sisters writing but when I found out about a series ABOUT THEM…well, I just had to get my hands on it and at not one moment did it disappoint!
Along with the traditional prose of the novel, Bella Ellis also includes various poems written by the sisters. She adds them where appropriate and they definitely add a sense of depth to the plot and connection to the sisters. At the beginning of the book we are blessed with a poem written by Charlotte called ‘Evening Solace’:
‘The human heart has hidden treasures,
In secret kept, in silence sealed;-
The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures,
Whose charms were broken if revealed.’
Set in Yorkshire, 1845, Ellis has written the most intricate, detailed and clever mystery I have read in quite some time. It was quite complex although it flowed so easily that the reader was never left confused or disappointed…
It was so fun watching the sisters unveiling the mystery together and furthermore, getting a glimpse into their different personalities. For instance Emily has a darker sense of humour than the others. One of her best lines that stuck in my memory was “I don’t mind danger… it’s polite conversation I can’t abide.” She also said: “You will never know me inside and out…I am as mysterious as a sphinx”.
Whereas Charlotte obviously has a much more worldly presence about her character; for example, she shared “our worth does not lie in being wanted and in being desired by a man. It does not even lie in the joy of motherhood. Our worth is our own.”
And then, of course, there was Anne, the youngest sister who was incredibly intrigued and excited by the whole notion, finding clues such as a tooth along the way! They were all desperate to find out more, putting themselves in danger at various points, but their hard work and boundless energy followed a path to the truth.
More than anything, this was an absolute treasure of a read; a treat for the mind and soul. I have already bought the next in the series and cannot wait to dive into another Bronte adventure…(especially after the cliffhanger at the end of this one!)
September 12, 2019
In this charming and suspenseful first installment in a new series, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte are “lady detectors” a.k.a. detectives!
In mid 1840s Yorkshire there’s a missing mother. In her place is a pool of blood. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne live just a few miles away and are upset and eager to know more about the crime.
They have not yet published their novels, but they are experts with details and have wild imaginations.
Of course women are not typically detectors during this time period, and the sisters are met with resistance at every turn. No matter, they are too invested to let this case go. They have to find out what happened to the vanished bride, despite the possible cost.
The Vanished Bride is a complex and engaging mystery that kept me rapt! If you are a Bronte fan, this book is extra fun visiting the sisters in a different way and getting to know them better.
Even if you aren’t, the author has delivered a well-planned historical mystery that kept me guessing and never showed all its cards.
I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com
In mid 1840s Yorkshire there’s a missing mother. In her place is a pool of blood. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne live just a few miles away and are upset and eager to know more about the crime.
They have not yet published their novels, but they are experts with details and have wild imaginations.
Of course women are not typically detectors during this time period, and the sisters are met with resistance at every turn. No matter, they are too invested to let this case go. They have to find out what happened to the vanished bride, despite the possible cost.
The Vanished Bride is a complex and engaging mystery that kept me rapt! If you are a Bronte fan, this book is extra fun visiting the sisters in a different way and getting to know them better.
Even if you aren’t, the author has delivered a well-planned historical mystery that kept me guessing and never showed all its cards.
I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com
September 22, 2019
'Oh dear, I do worry about all the deceit that comes with detecting. It doesn't seem very godly at all'.
When I started this I thought to myself, who dreams up this kind of stuff, the Brontè sisters as investigators! Now however I'm like this is genius, the Brontè sisters are detectives! Or 'Detectors' as they like to call themselves.
From the first page you can tell how much this author adores these sisters and I was astonished when reading the back notes how much fact is woven into this piece of fiction, it's just incredible and researched to a whole new level. The fact and fiction worked so well together and I feel that although the plot is fiction, I understand the lives of girls, who they were, their surroundings, their upbringings so much more.
This isn't a book, this literally came alive in my hands, it's very well crafted and so three dimensional I felt like a forth sister.
Easily four stars.
When I started this I thought to myself, who dreams up this kind of stuff, the Brontè sisters as investigators! Now however I'm like this is genius, the Brontè sisters are detectives! Or 'Detectors' as they like to call themselves.
From the first page you can tell how much this author adores these sisters and I was astonished when reading the back notes how much fact is woven into this piece of fiction, it's just incredible and researched to a whole new level. The fact and fiction worked so well together and I feel that although the plot is fiction, I understand the lives of girls, who they were, their surroundings, their upbringings so much more.
This isn't a book, this literally came alive in my hands, it's very well crafted and so three dimensional I felt like a forth sister.
Easily four stars.
October 5, 2019
This book is not even 300 pages but it took me approximately a thousand years to get through it. The only reason I finished it was because I wanted my misery to count for something, that something being my Goodreads challenge.
The book never seemed to be able to decide on what tone it was going for - it was, by turns, dramatic, then preachy, then campy, then suspenseful, then woke, and then back to dramatic again. At times the narrative seemed to forget that there was a story to tell and a mystery to solve, as it made frequent pitstops at various conveniently illustrative occurrences to make a case for whatever modern sensibility it was trying to weave into this historical fiction book. I'm all for feminism, but stopping the story once every few pages to have the female leads anachronistically soapbox about women's rights is absurd, especially when said female leads have about as much depth and dimension as the paper their story is printed upon.
Setting the shoehorned-in feminism aside, the dialogue and writing in general were clunky, and seemed so keen on throwing in as many "old-timey" words and phrases as possible that grammar was an afterthought. It read the way people at a costume party would speak when attempting to affect older patterns of speech to go along with their dress. And the feminism wasn't the only anachronistic part of the dialogue. There were countless idioms and turns of phrase, references to "brains turning to mush" and the like, which simply would not have been employed by young women who were living in isolation on the moors of Yorkshire in 1845. The result of this hodgepodge of attempts at archaic speech combined with painfully modern turns of phrase was such a mess that it was borderline unreadable.
In short, if you want to read a mystery related to the Brontes, I recommend reading the books the women themselves wrote.
The book never seemed to be able to decide on what tone it was going for - it was, by turns, dramatic, then preachy, then campy, then suspenseful, then woke, and then back to dramatic again. At times the narrative seemed to forget that there was a story to tell and a mystery to solve, as it made frequent pitstops at various conveniently illustrative occurrences to make a case for whatever modern sensibility it was trying to weave into this historical fiction book. I'm all for feminism, but stopping the story once every few pages to have the female leads anachronistically soapbox about women's rights is absurd, especially when said female leads have about as much depth and dimension as the paper their story is printed upon.
Setting the shoehorned-in feminism aside, the dialogue and writing in general were clunky, and seemed so keen on throwing in as many "old-timey" words and phrases as possible that grammar was an afterthought. It read the way people at a costume party would speak when attempting to affect older patterns of speech to go along with their dress. And the feminism wasn't the only anachronistic part of the dialogue. There were countless idioms and turns of phrase, references to "brains turning to mush" and the like, which simply would not have been employed by young women who were living in isolation on the moors of Yorkshire in 1845. The result of this hodgepodge of attempts at archaic speech combined with painfully modern turns of phrase was such a mess that it was borderline unreadable.
In short, if you want to read a mystery related to the Brontes, I recommend reading the books the women themselves wrote.
Read
May 24, 2020
September 28, 2019
This is the first in what will, hopefully, become a series of mysteries featuring the Bronte sisters as ‘detectors,’ in their words. I am never sure about putting really, historical characters, into fictional settings, but this novel really does utilise the biographies of the Bronte’s and, in no way, does it trivialise, or romanticise, them. Part tribute and part crime story, this is an excellent read.
The novel begins in 1851, with the news that a married woman has gone missing from Chester Grange, where Matilda French, an old school-friend, works as governess. Wish to comfort her, and, naturally curious, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, set out to visit their friend. They learn that this is an unlucky house indeed, as Mr Chester’s first wife, Imogen, killed herself and now Elizabeth has gone missing. Determined to help, the three set out to find out where Elizabeth is and whether she is still alive.
Much of this mystery hints at later novels the Bronte’s wrote. There is also much about the family; of Branwell, drunk and debt-ridden, their father in poor health and the desire that these three sisters have to become independent and find a way to support themselves. The mystery deals with uncomfortable truths, faced by women at the time; the fact that husbands, and fathers, have a great deal of control over women’s lives, of seduction – and the consequences – of domestic abuse, infant mortality and also the lack of a coherent police force to investigate crime. Indeed, one of the most poignant lines, has to come from Mr Bronte, who unwittingly leaves the sisters feeling diminished, when he comments, “your writing is not work, as it is with your brother.”If you enjoy mysteries and have a love for the Bronte sisters, you will love this.
The novel begins in 1851, with the news that a married woman has gone missing from Chester Grange, where Matilda French, an old school-friend, works as governess. Wish to comfort her, and, naturally curious, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, set out to visit their friend. They learn that this is an unlucky house indeed, as Mr Chester’s first wife, Imogen, killed herself and now Elizabeth has gone missing. Determined to help, the three set out to find out where Elizabeth is and whether she is still alive.
Much of this mystery hints at later novels the Bronte’s wrote. There is also much about the family; of Branwell, drunk and debt-ridden, their father in poor health and the desire that these three sisters have to become independent and find a way to support themselves. The mystery deals with uncomfortable truths, faced by women at the time; the fact that husbands, and fathers, have a great deal of control over women’s lives, of seduction – and the consequences – of domestic abuse, infant mortality and also the lack of a coherent police force to investigate crime. Indeed, one of the most poignant lines, has to come from Mr Bronte, who unwittingly leaves the sisters feeling diminished, when he comments, “your writing is not work, as it is with your brother.”If you enjoy mysteries and have a love for the Bronte sisters, you will love this.
January 28, 2024
" My soul is awakened, my spirit soaring
And carried aloft on the edge of the breeze;
For above and around we like the wild wind is roaring,
Around to rapture the earth and the seas "
- " Lines Composed in a Wood on a Windy Day."
by Anne Bronte
I confess that I have always loved reading the books by Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte, Anne being my favorite! When I saw this book on a GR friend's shelf, I had to read it.... the Bronte Sisters as detectives....wow!! I really couldn't imagine what I was in for because they write Classic books. Well, I was in for the adventures of a lifetime! This mystery has it all! The victim is Elizabeth Chester aka The Vanished Bride, but is she really dead? Or is she missing? Her husband was an evil and mad person, could she have run away but what about her two little boys? She was known for her wonderful skills as a mother.🤷♀️ Surely, she wouldn't leave them with this monster of a man who is thought to have killed his first wife.
Enter Charlotte, Emily and Anne! They proved that not only could they write, but were excellent detectives! 🕵️♀️ First trying to solve where the blood came from, there's a Gypsy camp nearby and maybe they were involved. There's charred remains and a tooth where once a fire was set on the grounds of the house. What about the spirits and ghosts haunting not only the library, but the entire house? A skull where the murder was told to have taken place, along with a wedding dress, and a cold chill that filled the air. Their brother, really wasn't much help. This story takes place in 1845 Haworth, England and a proper mystery it is. If you like mysteries with lots of twists and turns and everytime you think you solve it, you're wrong, you'll enjoy this one! I have to confess that every time I thought I knew the answer, I was wrong!! But, isn't that what makes for a fantastic mystery?
This is part 1 of a series of 4 books, but honestly it could be read as a stand alone. I may continue reading the others at some point, but I must leave 1845 Haworth, England for now and read my other book. I truly had a fun time reading this book 📖😁!! If you are a wee bit skittish, read it with the lights on because things do go bump in the night! Hopefully you will guess " who did it" I was wrong. I don't mind being wrong because this is well worth the challenge!
" Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive."
Sir Walter Scott (1808)
Enjoy and Happy Reading 💫✨🕵️♀️🔍
And carried aloft on the edge of the breeze;
For above and around we like the wild wind is roaring,
Around to rapture the earth and the seas "
- " Lines Composed in a Wood on a Windy Day."
by Anne Bronte
I confess that I have always loved reading the books by Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte, Anne being my favorite! When I saw this book on a GR friend's shelf, I had to read it.... the Bronte Sisters as detectives....wow!! I really couldn't imagine what I was in for because they write Classic books. Well, I was in for the adventures of a lifetime! This mystery has it all! The victim is Elizabeth Chester aka The Vanished Bride, but is she really dead? Or is she missing? Her husband was an evil and mad person, could she have run away but what about her two little boys? She was known for her wonderful skills as a mother.🤷♀️ Surely, she wouldn't leave them with this monster of a man who is thought to have killed his first wife.
Enter Charlotte, Emily and Anne! They proved that not only could they write, but were excellent detectives! 🕵️♀️ First trying to solve where the blood came from, there's a Gypsy camp nearby and maybe they were involved. There's charred remains and a tooth where once a fire was set on the grounds of the house. What about the spirits and ghosts haunting not only the library, but the entire house? A skull where the murder was told to have taken place, along with a wedding dress, and a cold chill that filled the air. Their brother, really wasn't much help. This story takes place in 1845 Haworth, England and a proper mystery it is. If you like mysteries with lots of twists and turns and everytime you think you solve it, you're wrong, you'll enjoy this one! I have to confess that every time I thought I knew the answer, I was wrong!! But, isn't that what makes for a fantastic mystery?
This is part 1 of a series of 4 books, but honestly it could be read as a stand alone. I may continue reading the others at some point, but I must leave 1845 Haworth, England for now and read my other book. I truly had a fun time reading this book 📖😁!! If you are a wee bit skittish, read it with the lights on because things do go bump in the night! Hopefully you will guess " who did it" I was wrong. I don't mind being wrong because this is well worth the challenge!
" Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive."
Sir Walter Scott (1808)
Enjoy and Happy Reading 💫✨🕵️♀️🔍
Shelved as 'dnf'
September 25, 2019DNF at 50%
I'm afraid that in spite of the many glowing reviews singing this book's praises I'm not going to finish reading it. I started The Vanished Bride hoping to read a Gothic tale featuring the Brontë sisters...soon I realised that the story and writing of The Vanished Bride were closer to those found in a cozy detective novel.
The sisters themselves were perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Bella Ellis' book. I'm sure that it's not an easy endeavour to attempt to create a fictional tale featuring such literary icons however giving them one note personalities is not the solution.
Charlotte is the serious one, Anne is the sensitive one, and Emily is the supposedly headstrong one. Ellis' portrayal of Emily does the woman no favours. Ellis' Emily is rude and arrogant, and most of her actions seem very unbelievable as she is somehow learned on detective methods that were yet part of the 'popular' knowledge. Just because she's read one article mentioning the appearance of a certain type of policeman in London doesn't mean that she should know what a murder investigation would entail. Worse still is that she was so very grating. The typical child-detective that is a little more than a busybody know-it-all.
Their views regarding the female question were handled in such a heavy-handed way. They seemed walking-and-talking manifestos rather than real women...the way they comment on the gender inequities seemed far too modern...their language and opinions seem far too current and representative of the feminist movement today (perhaps a bit of wishful thinking on the part of today's readers).
There are many cheesy references that make it seem as if the events taking place in The Vanished Bride influenced the Brontë's own novels (for example 'the woman in the attic') that seem so clumsy as to lack any sort of subtlety. I struggled to reconcile Ellis' Brontë sisters with the real ones...
The writing is as simplistic as its story and its characters often resorting to cliché phrases such as “Their world was at once very small and also infinite” and “Charlotte was quiet for a very long moment—a moment into which she compressed a lifetime of agony and rage”.
If you enjoy light mystery-reads, and you are not as a punctilious reader as I am, you might be able to find The Vanished Bride to be more entertaining than I did.
Read more reviews on my blog / / / View all my reviews on Goodreads
I'm afraid that in spite of the many glowing reviews singing this book's praises I'm not going to finish reading it. I started The Vanished Bride hoping to read a Gothic tale featuring the Brontë sisters...soon I realised that the story and writing of The Vanished Bride were closer to those found in a cozy detective novel.
The sisters themselves were perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Bella Ellis' book. I'm sure that it's not an easy endeavour to attempt to create a fictional tale featuring such literary icons however giving them one note personalities is not the solution.
Charlotte is the serious one, Anne is the sensitive one, and Emily is the supposedly headstrong one. Ellis' portrayal of Emily does the woman no favours. Ellis' Emily is rude and arrogant, and most of her actions seem very unbelievable as she is somehow learned on detective methods that were yet part of the 'popular' knowledge. Just because she's read one article mentioning the appearance of a certain type of policeman in London doesn't mean that she should know what a murder investigation would entail. Worse still is that she was so very grating. The typical child-detective that is a little more than a busybody know-it-all.
Their views regarding the female question were handled in such a heavy-handed way. They seemed walking-and-talking manifestos rather than real women...the way they comment on the gender inequities seemed far too modern...their language and opinions seem far too current and representative of the feminist movement today (perhaps a bit of wishful thinking on the part of today's readers).
There are many cheesy references that make it seem as if the events taking place in The Vanished Bride influenced the Brontë's own novels (for example 'the woman in the attic') that seem so clumsy as to lack any sort of subtlety. I struggled to reconcile Ellis' Brontë sisters with the real ones...
The writing is as simplistic as its story and its characters often resorting to cliché phrases such as “Their world was at once very small and also infinite” and “Charlotte was quiet for a very long moment—a moment into which she compressed a lifetime of agony and rage”.
If you enjoy light mystery-reads, and you are not as a punctilious reader as I am, you might be able to find The Vanished Bride to be more entertaining than I did.
Read more reviews on my blog / / / View all my reviews on Goodreads
September 25, 2019
‘The Vanished Bride’ is an historical novel by Bella Ellis. Ellis has taken the Brontës, before the sisters became famous authors and dropped them in a sinister Victorian tale. The book is written in the third person and each chapter is seen through the eyes of one of the main characters.
We join Charlotte in the parsonage in Haworth in December 1851 when she is in reflective mood. She thinks back to a time in 1845 when circumstances led to her having three of her precious siblings living with her. They received word that Elizabeth Chester, a young wife and mother, from a neighbouring village has disappeared under mysterious circumstances and undertake to find out what happened to her. They visit Elizabeth’s home, Chester Grange, under the pretext of concern for their friend, Mattie, who was employed as governess to the Chester children. Was this a crime scene or had Elizabeth disappeared of her own volition? This seemed unlikely owing to the amount of blood on the floor. Had she been murdered and spirited away? These are the questions the sisters, peripherally assisted by their brother, Branwell, set about trying to answer.
We can envisage the bleak isolated house set on the moors and it is fair to say the author has had help here, because most of us have read or watched something about the family so we know what to expect of the Brontë home. However, Bella Ellis is more than equal to the task of putting literary devices to good use. She illuminates her tale with metaphors, similes and personification along with occasional bit of gentle humour.
I enjoyed their delicate probing of the community of Arunton as they sought clues to help uncover the truth. The more they find out, the more complex the puzzle becomes but gradually we’re drip-fed snippets of information to help unpick the mystery.
We see each of the sisters through the author’s interpretation of their mind sets and I suspect she has undertaken a significant amount of background research into the personalities of each on which to base her characterisations. She even has the sibling bickering occasionally, as the romantic Charlotte clashes with the head-strong Emily and gives Anne the part of the pragmatic peacemaker.
Throughout the book, Ellis gives the forward-thinking sisters a social conscience as they demonstrate their frustration with the lack of status of women in society. As their confidence increases, they realise that fulfilment can be achieved through channels other than marriage.
Bella Ellis is clearly a huge Brontë devotee which is apparent from her choice of pseudonym and the subtle nods to the sisters’ subsequent work running through threads in this tale.
Would the sisters be impressed with being plunged into a dark tale of mystery and intrigue? As it is a well-written book with great attention to period detail, I suspect they would. The pace might be a little slow for those who enjoy action-packed drama but for fans of the sisters’ work, this story definitely captures the essence of the Brontë style.
This is a delightful whodunit which will appeal to many readers who enjoy a cosy conundrum. I thoroughly recommend this book and award five stars.
We join Charlotte in the parsonage in Haworth in December 1851 when she is in reflective mood. She thinks back to a time in 1845 when circumstances led to her having three of her precious siblings living with her. They received word that Elizabeth Chester, a young wife and mother, from a neighbouring village has disappeared under mysterious circumstances and undertake to find out what happened to her. They visit Elizabeth’s home, Chester Grange, under the pretext of concern for their friend, Mattie, who was employed as governess to the Chester children. Was this a crime scene or had Elizabeth disappeared of her own volition? This seemed unlikely owing to the amount of blood on the floor. Had she been murdered and spirited away? These are the questions the sisters, peripherally assisted by their brother, Branwell, set about trying to answer.
We can envisage the bleak isolated house set on the moors and it is fair to say the author has had help here, because most of us have read or watched something about the family so we know what to expect of the Brontë home. However, Bella Ellis is more than equal to the task of putting literary devices to good use. She illuminates her tale with metaphors, similes and personification along with occasional bit of gentle humour.
I enjoyed their delicate probing of the community of Arunton as they sought clues to help uncover the truth. The more they find out, the more complex the puzzle becomes but gradually we’re drip-fed snippets of information to help unpick the mystery.
We see each of the sisters through the author’s interpretation of their mind sets and I suspect she has undertaken a significant amount of background research into the personalities of each on which to base her characterisations. She even has the sibling bickering occasionally, as the romantic Charlotte clashes with the head-strong Emily and gives Anne the part of the pragmatic peacemaker.
Throughout the book, Ellis gives the forward-thinking sisters a social conscience as they demonstrate their frustration with the lack of status of women in society. As their confidence increases, they realise that fulfilment can be achieved through channels other than marriage.
Bella Ellis is clearly a huge Brontë devotee which is apparent from her choice of pseudonym and the subtle nods to the sisters’ subsequent work running through threads in this tale.
Would the sisters be impressed with being plunged into a dark tale of mystery and intrigue? As it is a well-written book with great attention to period detail, I suspect they would. The pace might be a little slow for those who enjoy action-packed drama but for fans of the sisters’ work, this story definitely captures the essence of the Brontë style.
This is a delightful whodunit which will appeal to many readers who enjoy a cosy conundrum. I thoroughly recommend this book and award five stars.
September 11, 2019
I participated in an absolutely DELIGHTFUL buddy read of The Vanished Bride over the past few weeks. Are you a fan of mysteries? Women empowerment? Historical fiction based around read people or events? The Bronte sisters? If any of these are a yes, pick up a copy of this book!
Emily, Charlotte, and Anne Bronte live a quiet life, spending their time exploring their passion to write. When a young wife and mother is seemingly murdered just a few miles from their home, the sisters set out to investigate.
Elizabeth Chester, second wife of Robert Chester, has disappeared, leaving behind two small children and a large amount of blood in her place. Chester’s first wife also died under strange circumstance, leading to some suspicion about what happened to Elizabeth.
While Anne and their brother Branwell investigate inside of the house, Charlotte and Emily work the community, gathering information. The more they learn about the events surrounding Elizabeth’s disappearance, the more suspicious they become…
I loved this reimagining of the Bronte sisters in their younger years solving mysteries together. The dialogue on what women (particularly women of a certain class) were expected and able to do at the time was so interesting. I loved the alternating narrators as well, getting to know each sister a bit more and what their strengths are in this powerhouse crime-solving trio.
Their brother Branwell is a different story.. I liked the inclusion of him in this novel as a contrast to the Bronte sisters. Branwell is part of quite a scandal. In contrast, Emily, Charlotte, and Anne live a quiet, studious life. And yet, being male, Branwell has so much advantage over the sisters. The biggest strife they cause (besides the danger they get themselves into by solving this crime) is that they are approaching an age where they should be focused on getting married. As a non-spoiler for the real lives of the Bronte sisters, only Charlotte ended up married and it was in the last year of her life. It is also, in my opinions, the least interesting thing about her!
I loved the feminist themes in this book. A few that I buddy read with thought they were overdone, but I didn’t feel that way at all. I actually felt that among the three sisters, the discussions on women were so enlightening and informative for the time they lived in. Lest we not forget that all three originally published under male pseudonyms. Female writers, of course, not being taken seriously at the time.
The mystery was intriguing nearly right from the start. The idea of what seemed to be a murder but with no body was fascinating. There are a number of avenues this could take—did someone hide the body? Is she still alive? If so, whose blood is that? By the last quarter of the novel, I could scarcely put it down!
A truly engaging historical mystery that delighted me in every way!
Thank you to Berkley for my copy. Opinions are my own.
Emily, Charlotte, and Anne Bronte live a quiet life, spending their time exploring their passion to write. When a young wife and mother is seemingly murdered just a few miles from their home, the sisters set out to investigate.
Elizabeth Chester, second wife of Robert Chester, has disappeared, leaving behind two small children and a large amount of blood in her place. Chester’s first wife also died under strange circumstance, leading to some suspicion about what happened to Elizabeth.
While Anne and their brother Branwell investigate inside of the house, Charlotte and Emily work the community, gathering information. The more they learn about the events surrounding Elizabeth’s disappearance, the more suspicious they become…
I loved this reimagining of the Bronte sisters in their younger years solving mysteries together. The dialogue on what women (particularly women of a certain class) were expected and able to do at the time was so interesting. I loved the alternating narrators as well, getting to know each sister a bit more and what their strengths are in this powerhouse crime-solving trio.
Their brother Branwell is a different story.. I liked the inclusion of him in this novel as a contrast to the Bronte sisters. Branwell is part of quite a scandal. In contrast, Emily, Charlotte, and Anne live a quiet, studious life. And yet, being male, Branwell has so much advantage over the sisters. The biggest strife they cause (besides the danger they get themselves into by solving this crime) is that they are approaching an age where they should be focused on getting married. As a non-spoiler for the real lives of the Bronte sisters, only Charlotte ended up married and it was in the last year of her life. It is also, in my opinions, the least interesting thing about her!
I loved the feminist themes in this book. A few that I buddy read with thought they were overdone, but I didn’t feel that way at all. I actually felt that among the three sisters, the discussions on women were so enlightening and informative for the time they lived in. Lest we not forget that all three originally published under male pseudonyms. Female writers, of course, not being taken seriously at the time.
The mystery was intriguing nearly right from the start. The idea of what seemed to be a murder but with no body was fascinating. There are a number of avenues this could take—did someone hide the body? Is she still alive? If so, whose blood is that? By the last quarter of the novel, I could scarcely put it down!
A truly engaging historical mystery that delighted me in every way!
Thank you to Berkley for my copy. Opinions are my own.
November 4, 2019
3.5 stars rounded up to 4
Bronte Sisters Mystery #1
Yorkshire 1845. Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte all themselves "the detectors". They are not official law enforcement officers. Their friend, Maddie that her mistress has went missing and that there was quite a lot of blood in her bedroom. Maddie also tells them that Mr. Chester is a cruel man. The sisters are intrigued and decide that they will try and solve this mystery. The sisters brother, Bram is very supportive of his sisters and he helps them out when he can.
The story is told by Charlotte, Emily and Anne's perspectives. It took me a little while to get into this story. Theres a strong underlying feminism theme. I quite liked the idea that the sisters were amateur sleuths before they were talented authors. It was nice that the author included their brother into the story. There are references to the books that they wrote, but you need to look out for them. The book is different to the historical fiction I normally read. An enjoyable read.
I would like to thank NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton and the author Bella Ellis for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Bronte Sisters Mystery #1
Yorkshire 1845. Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte all themselves "the detectors". They are not official law enforcement officers. Their friend, Maddie that her mistress has went missing and that there was quite a lot of blood in her bedroom. Maddie also tells them that Mr. Chester is a cruel man. The sisters are intrigued and decide that they will try and solve this mystery. The sisters brother, Bram is very supportive of his sisters and he helps them out when he can.
The story is told by Charlotte, Emily and Anne's perspectives. It took me a little while to get into this story. Theres a strong underlying feminism theme. I quite liked the idea that the sisters were amateur sleuths before they were talented authors. It was nice that the author included their brother into the story. There are references to the books that they wrote, but you need to look out for them. The book is different to the historical fiction I normally read. An enjoyable read.
I would like to thank NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton and the author Bella Ellis for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
September 10, 2019
It is always fun to have something a bit different than the norm. Something that is fun, entertaining, and stands out from your typical historical mysteries. The Vanished Bride managed to do all of those things and also added a bit of realism along the way.
Set in a time when the Bronte sisters still roamed the Earth, The Vanished Bride gives us a curious look at maybe what made them not only fantastic writers but maybe where all their imagination and ingenious ideas came from as well as giving us a fantastical mystery ripe with intrigue, secrets, and murder and with just a touch of the paranormal and unexplained.
Perfect for lovers of historical fiction as well as lover's of the Bronte sisters themselves. The Vanished Bride will keep you turing the pages and wondering what kind of adventures and secrets they will uncover next.
*ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*
Set in a time when the Bronte sisters still roamed the Earth, The Vanished Bride gives us a curious look at maybe what made them not only fantastic writers but maybe where all their imagination and ingenious ideas came from as well as giving us a fantastical mystery ripe with intrigue, secrets, and murder and with just a touch of the paranormal and unexplained.
Perfect for lovers of historical fiction as well as lover's of the Bronte sisters themselves. The Vanished Bride will keep you turing the pages and wondering what kind of adventures and secrets they will uncover next.
*ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*
November 16, 2020
2.5 stars
Even though I LOVE the idea and potential of a story based around the Brontë sisters, especially as amateur sleuths, this was one heck of a dry read. It was a really difficult book to get through and I was admittedly bored for a large portion of the novel.
Honestly, I probably would have DNF-ed this but I did want to know the ending and that was the only reason that I kept reading.
Even though I LOVE the idea and potential of a story based around the Brontë sisters, especially as amateur sleuths, this was one heck of a dry read. It was a really difficult book to get through and I was admittedly bored for a large portion of the novel.
Honestly, I probably would have DNF-ed this but I did want to know the ending and that was the only reason that I kept reading.
September 10, 2019
I was very fortunate to have received an Advanced Readers Copy electronically from Berkley as part of a Group Buddy Read with other bookstagrammers lead by Berit Lohn from @beritaudiokilledthebookmark, who made this possible.
The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis
The Bronte siblings Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell embark in a mystery set in 1845, Yorkshire. The story opens quite dramatically with a possibility of murder and the disappearance of a young mother leaving her two children behind and a macabre of a crime scene with pools of blood all over! The Bronte sisters, living in a Parsonage in Haworth, hear about this horrendous crime. Armed with their extraordinary wit and skill, they decide to become "lady detectors" as they set out to solve this murder mystery on their own.
I loved that despite this story, being a fictional murder mystery, the historical contexts surrounding the story is actually from known facts about the Bronte's life and family. Ellis beautifully incorporated this into the story and it did make for a wonderful and fascinating read especially for Bronte fans. As to when the story began in August of 1845, it was a well known and well documented time when the Bronte family were once again all together in one roof for at least several months. Incidentally, this was also the time before any of the Brontes started writing their books.
I am excited that this is going to be a part of the Bronte Murder Mystery series since I loved and enjoyed reading about these amateur sleuths. Bella Ellis did an exceptional job incorporating and representing strong women during the Victorian era, by using the Bronte sisters to landscape the story. The Brontes were not only legendary but indeed revolutionary, and well ahead of their time. This was a well written and well plotted murder mystery that kept me turning the pages and guessing until the very end.
Thank you NetGalley, Berkley Pub and author Bella Ellis for the opportunity to read this and review.
The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis
The Bronte siblings Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell embark in a mystery set in 1845, Yorkshire. The story opens quite dramatically with a possibility of murder and the disappearance of a young mother leaving her two children behind and a macabre of a crime scene with pools of blood all over! The Bronte sisters, living in a Parsonage in Haworth, hear about this horrendous crime. Armed with their extraordinary wit and skill, they decide to become "lady detectors" as they set out to solve this murder mystery on their own.
I loved that despite this story, being a fictional murder mystery, the historical contexts surrounding the story is actually from known facts about the Bronte's life and family. Ellis beautifully incorporated this into the story and it did make for a wonderful and fascinating read especially for Bronte fans. As to when the story began in August of 1845, it was a well known and well documented time when the Bronte family were once again all together in one roof for at least several months. Incidentally, this was also the time before any of the Brontes started writing their books.
I am excited that this is going to be a part of the Bronte Murder Mystery series since I loved and enjoyed reading about these amateur sleuths. Bella Ellis did an exceptional job incorporating and representing strong women during the Victorian era, by using the Bronte sisters to landscape the story. The Brontes were not only legendary but indeed revolutionary, and well ahead of their time. This was a well written and well plotted murder mystery that kept me turning the pages and guessing until the very end.
Thank you NetGalley, Berkley Pub and author Bella Ellis for the opportunity to read this and review.
July 16, 2019
The word that kept coming to mind when reading this was delightful. Other than some of their written works, I don't know anything about the Brontes or their lives so I found the personification of their various personalities in this work to be extremely fun and interesting. While I did figure out part of the mystery very quickly, I was completely off base as to why and how it all happened which made for a really enjoyable read. The chapters themselves are titled with the alternating characters, as if they are being told by different POV, but honestly I didn't see any difference in the voice or the perspective and thought it was completely unnecessary. I'm also not sure of the book being shelved as a thriller. There were some dark parts to it but overall I found the tone to be light and enjoyable and might even go as far as to say it could be sophisticated cozy mystery. Overall this was a great debut! Thanks to the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy. The opinions are my own.
December 21, 2019
What a charming little mystery THE VANISHED BRIDE turned out to be! Despite the fact I've never read
"Jane Eyre"
,
"Wuthering Heights"
or any of the other of their books, I was intrigued by this one's premise featuring the three sisters. It isn't a factual account but more of a reimagined story of the Bronte sisters as lady "detectors" on the hunt for...the vanished bride!
Unlike any mystery I've ever encountered, THE VANISHED BRIDE is something different from the norm. It is fun, entertaining and, despite the mystery at hand, a delightufully light read. I rather felt it had an Austenesque feel to it as well but then I put that down to the time period it is set, within that of both Austen and the Brontes.
It's 1851 and the prologue opens with Charlotte, as the last surviving Bronte sister, reflecting on a time before she and her siblings became authors. They each were novellists, poets and even artists in their own rights, and looking back, Charlotte ponders on their lives together at the Haworth parsonage under the care of their widowed father. It also reminds us how tragically short their lives were - with Emily dying in 1848 and Anne in 1849, while Charlotte herself was to pass in 1855. Their brother Branwell, who features peripherally in the story usually intoxicated or under the influence of opioids, also died in 1848 - the same year as Emily.
Yorkshire 1845. Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte live a quiet life writing or drawing, trying to find the inspiration to write that novel that would see them published. But in the 19th century, it was very much a man's world and if the sisters were to achieve anything it would have to be under the guise as man. Each of them had been governesses before returning to Haworth after the death of their Aunt, who left the sisters a tidy sum to live comfortably until they were published. But life at the parsonage is somewhat dull after the structure and busyness of governess life, and the sisters at oftentimes find themselves a little bored.
One morning, they hear the news that Elizabeth Chester. a young wife and mother, has disappeared from her home at Chester Grange under mysterious circumstances, leaving behind pools of blood in her bedroom. And with the amount of blood found it is unlikely she would have survived. The sisters are immediately concerned for their friend Mattie, who is governess to the Chester children, and take it upon themselves to visit Chester Grange on the pretext of that concern. While they are worried for Mattie, who incidentally discovered her mistress to be missing and the considerable amount of blood she left behind, the sisters decide that they will create their own inquiries and do some detecting of their own.
Is the bedroom of Elizabeth Chester a crime scene or did she disappear of her accord? Given the amount of blood found that seemed unlikely. And yet the sisters couldn't dismiss it entirely. So had she been murdered and disposed of? Or is there something more sinister at play? And if not, why would she leave the children? According to everyone who knew her, Elizabeth loved her son and step-son and would never just leave them. These are just some of the questions the sisters, assisted by their brother Branwell, ask themselves and set about trying to answer.
Elizabeth is the second wife of Robert Chester of Chester Grange, and it seems that his first wife, Imogen, died under some rather baffling circumstances. Questions arise leaving some suspicion over what might have, or might not have, happened to Elizabeth.
The sisters decide to split resources with Anne and Branwell investigating around Chester Grange while Charlotte and Emily gather information from the community. But they soon learn that as they are women, the community are reluctant to talk to them so Emily comes up with the guise of working under the instructions of Bell Solicitors, leaving instructions for any messages to be left for Messrs Bell & Co at the local inn under the strictest confidence. The tenants of Arunton trust the governing hand of a man to know what's best as well as having influence when it comes to women. They wouldn't talk to them otherwise.
And it seems the more they uncover, the more complex the mystery becomes as it deepens and stretches into places as far as Scarborough. But what could they possibly find there? And why are Elizabeth's parents being evasive? Exactly what is it that they are hiding? And who is the mystery man a villager had seen with Elizabeth Chester in the woods leading up to her mysterious disappearance?
I loved the re-imagining of the Bronte sisters and their brother Branwell solving mysteries together. It is all rather a novel concept and makes for delightful reading. The alternation between sisters in narration kept it interesting as we are given a glimpse into each sister. I found it amusing to note Charlotte's constant discomfort around her father's curate, Arthur Nicholls, when she herself marries him nearly a decade later prior to her death.
The inclusion of Branwell to the story leant something of a contrast to that of his sisters. He is quite the scandal - a drunkard, a gambler, a womaniser and an addict. However, he has the advantage that his sisters do not in that he is male and therefore it appears far more acceptable. The sisters, on the other hand, are all at the age where they should be focusing on getting married...not gallivanting across the moors and the seaside playing at "detecting"! This is behaviour that would acceptable in Branwell, not the sisters. Hence the guise of the fictitious Bell & Co. This, of course, was a nod to the sisters themselves as their pen names at the time of their publications used the surname "Bell". The other being the author's pseudonym - incorporating the name "Bell" into Bella and "Ellis", which was Emily's pen name at the time.
A truly engaging historical mystery, THE VANISHED BRIDE is enchanting and delightful with the addition of some darker nuances woven throughout making this an intriguing well-written fun read.
If you are a Bronte fan, or you love historical mysteries, then don't go pass THE VANISHED BRIDE. You will thoroughly enjoy it!
I would like to thank #BellaEllis, #NetGalley and #HodderAndStoughton for an ARC of #TheVanishedBride in exchange for an honest review.
This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.
Unlike any mystery I've ever encountered, THE VANISHED BRIDE is something different from the norm. It is fun, entertaining and, despite the mystery at hand, a delightufully light read. I rather felt it had an Austenesque feel to it as well but then I put that down to the time period it is set, within that of both Austen and the Brontes.
It's 1851 and the prologue opens with Charlotte, as the last surviving Bronte sister, reflecting on a time before she and her siblings became authors. They each were novellists, poets and even artists in their own rights, and looking back, Charlotte ponders on their lives together at the Haworth parsonage under the care of their widowed father. It also reminds us how tragically short their lives were - with Emily dying in 1848 and Anne in 1849, while Charlotte herself was to pass in 1855. Their brother Branwell, who features peripherally in the story usually intoxicated or under the influence of opioids, also died in 1848 - the same year as Emily.
Yorkshire 1845. Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte live a quiet life writing or drawing, trying to find the inspiration to write that novel that would see them published. But in the 19th century, it was very much a man's world and if the sisters were to achieve anything it would have to be under the guise as man. Each of them had been governesses before returning to Haworth after the death of their Aunt, who left the sisters a tidy sum to live comfortably until they were published. But life at the parsonage is somewhat dull after the structure and busyness of governess life, and the sisters at oftentimes find themselves a little bored.
One morning, they hear the news that Elizabeth Chester. a young wife and mother, has disappeared from her home at Chester Grange under mysterious circumstances, leaving behind pools of blood in her bedroom. And with the amount of blood found it is unlikely she would have survived. The sisters are immediately concerned for their friend Mattie, who is governess to the Chester children, and take it upon themselves to visit Chester Grange on the pretext of that concern. While they are worried for Mattie, who incidentally discovered her mistress to be missing and the considerable amount of blood she left behind, the sisters decide that they will create their own inquiries and do some detecting of their own.
Is the bedroom of Elizabeth Chester a crime scene or did she disappear of her accord? Given the amount of blood found that seemed unlikely. And yet the sisters couldn't dismiss it entirely. So had she been murdered and disposed of? Or is there something more sinister at play? And if not, why would she leave the children? According to everyone who knew her, Elizabeth loved her son and step-son and would never just leave them. These are just some of the questions the sisters, assisted by their brother Branwell, ask themselves and set about trying to answer.
Elizabeth is the second wife of Robert Chester of Chester Grange, and it seems that his first wife, Imogen, died under some rather baffling circumstances. Questions arise leaving some suspicion over what might have, or might not have, happened to Elizabeth.
The sisters decide to split resources with Anne and Branwell investigating around Chester Grange while Charlotte and Emily gather information from the community. But they soon learn that as they are women, the community are reluctant to talk to them so Emily comes up with the guise of working under the instructions of Bell Solicitors, leaving instructions for any messages to be left for Messrs Bell & Co at the local inn under the strictest confidence. The tenants of Arunton trust the governing hand of a man to know what's best as well as having influence when it comes to women. They wouldn't talk to them otherwise.
And it seems the more they uncover, the more complex the mystery becomes as it deepens and stretches into places as far as Scarborough. But what could they possibly find there? And why are Elizabeth's parents being evasive? Exactly what is it that they are hiding? And who is the mystery man a villager had seen with Elizabeth Chester in the woods leading up to her mysterious disappearance?
I loved the re-imagining of the Bronte sisters and their brother Branwell solving mysteries together. It is all rather a novel concept and makes for delightful reading. The alternation between sisters in narration kept it interesting as we are given a glimpse into each sister. I found it amusing to note Charlotte's constant discomfort around her father's curate, Arthur Nicholls, when she herself marries him nearly a decade later prior to her death.
The inclusion of Branwell to the story leant something of a contrast to that of his sisters. He is quite the scandal - a drunkard, a gambler, a womaniser and an addict. However, he has the advantage that his sisters do not in that he is male and therefore it appears far more acceptable. The sisters, on the other hand, are all at the age where they should be focusing on getting married...not gallivanting across the moors and the seaside playing at "detecting"! This is behaviour that would acceptable in Branwell, not the sisters. Hence the guise of the fictitious Bell & Co. This, of course, was a nod to the sisters themselves as their pen names at the time of their publications used the surname "Bell". The other being the author's pseudonym - incorporating the name "Bell" into Bella and "Ellis", which was Emily's pen name at the time.
A truly engaging historical mystery, THE VANISHED BRIDE is enchanting and delightful with the addition of some darker nuances woven throughout making this an intriguing well-written fun read.
If you are a Bronte fan, or you love historical mysteries, then don't go pass THE VANISHED BRIDE. You will thoroughly enjoy it!
I would like to thank #BellaEllis, #NetGalley and #HodderAndStoughton for an ARC of #TheVanishedBride in exchange for an honest review.
This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.
September 20, 2019
It’s 1851 and the prologue to the book sees Charlotte, now the last surviving member of the Brontë family, looking back on her and her sisters’ lives before they became famous authors. It underlines how tragically short their lives were, Emily having died in 1848 and Anne in 1849. Charlotte herself was to die in 1855.
The book’s very engaging premise is that the sisters were enterprising ‘detectors’ before they were novelists and The Vanished Bride represents their first case undertaken in 1845 (before, for example, the publication of Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights in 1847). In a clever nod to the fact that the Brontë sisters’ novels and poems were initially published under pseudonyms (Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell) in order to disguise their gender, the author has adopted Bella Ellis as her pen-name for this new series of historical mysteries. That’s only one of very many clever nods to the works of the Brontë sisters that feature in The Vanished Bride and readers who are familiar with any of the novels of the Brontës will have great fun in spotting the allusions. I know I did but I probably missed just as many more. (There is also at least one allusion to another famous fictional detective in the reference to what might be described as a ‘curious incident’.)
The book also makes references to events in the lives of the sisters. There is one especially poignant scene where Charlotte and Anne visit Scarborough as part of their investigation and Anne remarks that, apart from Haworth, Scarborough is ‘the only other place in the world that she ever wished to be…standing on the clifftops, marvelling at the boundless magnitude of the sea, and wondering at what might lie beyond it’.
The sisters take it in turns to relate the story and, as well as making engaging narrators, it allows the reader to appreciate their different strengths when it comes to the art of ‘detecting’, neatly mirroring what you might imagine were their characters in real-life. For example, Emily is all action, emotional and instinct, whereas Anne is methodical and thoughtful, and Charlotte is in her element when dealing with people and eliciting information. Collectively, the sisters find their gender is a positive advantage on a number of occasions, something very different from the position they find themselves in as members of society. Fans of Branwell Brontë will be pleased to know that he also features, although very much in an assisting role.
I wouldn’t want what I’ve said so far to put off readers who are unfamiliar with the lives or works of the Brontë sisters because The Vanished Bride works perfectly well as an engaging historical mystery even without such knowledge (although, I suspect readers may be tempted to pick up one of the sisters’ novels afterwards). The sisters’ investigation involves everything you’d expect from a mystery: examining the scene of the crime, looking for evidence, interviewing suspects, even a bit of undercover work and an early outing for what we’d probably recognise today as psychological profiling. Those with good powers of observation may pick up clues along the way but you definitely won’t know if they were significant or ‘red herrings’ until the final chapters.
The Vanished Bride is an accomplished, entertaining historical mystery that is also great fun for Brontë fans. I shall certainly be looking out for future books in the series.
I received an advance review copy courtesy of Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley
The book’s very engaging premise is that the sisters were enterprising ‘detectors’ before they were novelists and The Vanished Bride represents their first case undertaken in 1845 (before, for example, the publication of Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights in 1847). In a clever nod to the fact that the Brontë sisters’ novels and poems were initially published under pseudonyms (Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell) in order to disguise their gender, the author has adopted Bella Ellis as her pen-name for this new series of historical mysteries. That’s only one of very many clever nods to the works of the Brontë sisters that feature in The Vanished Bride and readers who are familiar with any of the novels of the Brontës will have great fun in spotting the allusions. I know I did but I probably missed just as many more. (There is also at least one allusion to another famous fictional detective in the reference to what might be described as a ‘curious incident’.)
The book also makes references to events in the lives of the sisters. There is one especially poignant scene where Charlotte and Anne visit Scarborough as part of their investigation and Anne remarks that, apart from Haworth, Scarborough is ‘the only other place in the world that she ever wished to be…standing on the clifftops, marvelling at the boundless magnitude of the sea, and wondering at what might lie beyond it’.
The sisters take it in turns to relate the story and, as well as making engaging narrators, it allows the reader to appreciate their different strengths when it comes to the art of ‘detecting’, neatly mirroring what you might imagine were their characters in real-life. For example, Emily is all action, emotional and instinct, whereas Anne is methodical and thoughtful, and Charlotte is in her element when dealing with people and eliciting information. Collectively, the sisters find their gender is a positive advantage on a number of occasions, something very different from the position they find themselves in as members of society. Fans of Branwell Brontë will be pleased to know that he also features, although very much in an assisting role.
I wouldn’t want what I’ve said so far to put off readers who are unfamiliar with the lives or works of the Brontë sisters because The Vanished Bride works perfectly well as an engaging historical mystery even without such knowledge (although, I suspect readers may be tempted to pick up one of the sisters’ novels afterwards). The sisters’ investigation involves everything you’d expect from a mystery: examining the scene of the crime, looking for evidence, interviewing suspects, even a bit of undercover work and an early outing for what we’d probably recognise today as psychological profiling. Those with good powers of observation may pick up clues along the way but you definitely won’t know if they were significant or ‘red herrings’ until the final chapters.
The Vanished Bride is an accomplished, entertaining historical mystery that is also great fun for Brontë fans. I shall certainly be looking out for future books in the series.
I received an advance review copy courtesy of Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley
January 18, 2020
4.5 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed this story! I’m not sure I expected to- I’ve never been particularly inspired by the Brontes: Jane Eyre was good but I never liked Wuthering Heights. Also their life seemed to have been so drab and boring- like purgatory! This mystery was a good one and I really liked reading about the dynamics of the 3 sisters and their brother. I’m looking forward to continuing the series. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.
November 27, 2023
Three and a half stars, rounded to four.
Who hasn't been gallivanting as a character of a detective fiction series recently -- practically every notable real-life personage or literary character, from Sigmund Freud and Elizabeth II to Jane Austen, not to mention a bunch of Sherlock Holmes's reincarnations, as well as a motley crowd of his numerous friends and relatives. Of course, Bronte sisters couldn't avoid joining the club.
I must admit I approached this first installment in the series of Charlotte, Emily and Anne's detective adventures both with curiosity and trepidation, weary of a flop. With my expectations cautiously low, I was in no way disappointed and at the end even resolved to be pleasantly surprised.
Image credit: Branwell Brontë, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The author, as is not only stated in the afterword, but, more importantly, confirmed by the novel's text, has been a life-long fan of the amazing Bronte trio. She approaches the project of fictionalizing them into a detective extravaganza with love, respect and attention to detail, carefully incorporating into the story a lot of their real life events, as well as the events taking place in their fictional worlds. In my opinion, there were a few slips along the way when Bronte sisters sounded a bit too modern and feministic, even for their extraordinary ground-breaking selves. Still, those occurrences were far a few between, and for the most part the story and the characters held together well.
All in all, the first case in Bronte sisters detective adventures was quite entertaining. I'm looking forward to reading the next one.
Image credit: Tim Green from Bradford, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Who hasn't been gallivanting as a character of a detective fiction series recently -- practically every notable real-life personage or literary character, from Sigmund Freud and Elizabeth II to Jane Austen, not to mention a bunch of Sherlock Holmes's reincarnations, as well as a motley crowd of his numerous friends and relatives. Of course, Bronte sisters couldn't avoid joining the club.
I must admit I approached this first installment in the series of Charlotte, Emily and Anne's detective adventures both with curiosity and trepidation, weary of a flop. With my expectations cautiously low, I was in no way disappointed and at the end even resolved to be pleasantly surprised.
Image credit: Branwell Brontë, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The author, as is not only stated in the afterword, but, more importantly, confirmed by the novel's text, has been a life-long fan of the amazing Bronte trio. She approaches the project of fictionalizing them into a detective extravaganza with love, respect and attention to detail, carefully incorporating into the story a lot of their real life events, as well as the events taking place in their fictional worlds. In my opinion, there were a few slips along the way when Bronte sisters sounded a bit too modern and feministic, even for their extraordinary ground-breaking selves. Still, those occurrences were far a few between, and for the most part the story and the characters held together well.
All in all, the first case in Bronte sisters detective adventures was quite entertaining. I'm looking forward to reading the next one.
Image credit: Tim Green from Bradford, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
March 22, 2024
What a delight! To have the three Brontë sisters acting as crime detectors is sheer genius. All three of them, each with their differing temperaments and view of life and society, adds their own distinctive analytical perspectives to a crime that brings the story to life. And what a devilish mystery they have to uncover… the supposed death and disappearance of a young bride and mother who vanished without a trace. Well, almost. Enter out three intrepid crime solvers. For them, solving the mystery is bit just about justice, but about defending women in general from a society who thinks little of them, except as quiet and fragile ornaments to men’s lives, and the satisfiers of their private needs and wants and desires. And woe to the man who thinks them too genteel and timid to draw back the curtain on a crime so heinous that it seems too fictional to be true. Before they were the greatest women authors of the nineteenth century, the Brontës were crime detectors extraordinaire!
History allows modern writers to be prescient about things long in the past, and so, knowing that the two younger Brontë sisters, Emily and Anne, as well as their brother Branwell, all died within a year of each other (1848-49), only a few years after the time of the novel (1845), Ms. Ellis has filled the story in small foreboding ways about their very demise in the near future. And particularly in the mind of Charlotte, the eldest. Not in so much that they would die soon, but rather that the sisters thought they would always have each other in their lives. It makes for a very atmospheric setting in that regard alone.
Filled with period details and exquisite dialogue, and interspersed with small tidbits about the three women’s lives, The Vanished Bride is an excellent debut in this series, and I look forward to reading the next three books. Five stars!
History allows modern writers to be prescient about things long in the past, and so, knowing that the two younger Brontë sisters, Emily and Anne, as well as their brother Branwell, all died within a year of each other (1848-49), only a few years after the time of the novel (1845), Ms. Ellis has filled the story in small foreboding ways about their very demise in the near future. And particularly in the mind of Charlotte, the eldest. Not in so much that they would die soon, but rather that the sisters thought they would always have each other in their lives. It makes for a very atmospheric setting in that regard alone.
Filled with period details and exquisite dialogue, and interspersed with small tidbits about the three women’s lives, The Vanished Bride is an excellent debut in this series, and I look forward to reading the next three books. Five stars!
September 6, 2019
This is the first book in The Bronte Mysteries series.
In this story Charlotte Bronte and her siblings become amateur detectives when a young mother is found missing in their neighbourhood.
The story was set in 1945 and reflects the views and language of that time period.
I was invited to read this book by the publisher and found this an interesting change from the books I normally read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review
In this story Charlotte Bronte and her siblings become amateur detectives when a young mother is found missing in their neighbourhood.
The story was set in 1945 and reflects the views and language of that time period.
I was invited to read this book by the publisher and found this an interesting change from the books I normally read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review
May 2, 2021
Warum ich einem Roman zwei Sterne gebe, obwohl er mich enttäuschte?
Bevor ich wieder gefragt werde, hier schnell dazu, meinen persönlichen Lesegeschmack setze ich in meiner Bewertung nicht so hoch an. Er ist nur das Zünglein an der Waage. (Allerdings gibt es Ausnahmen 🙊🙊🙊)
Im Bemühen, authentisch rüber zu kommen, tut die Autorin Bella Ellis in ihrem Roman "Die verschwundene Braut" immer des Guten zu viel. Das war etwas, das mir sofort auffiel. Dadurch wirken Dialoge gekünstelt und Aktionen nicht überzeugend - beispielsweise die Begegnung mit den Honeychurchs. Das war so unglaubwürdig!
Nicht, WAS Anne und ihre Schwester erzählten hätte in Frage gestellt werden sollen, sondern dass SIE es erzählten usw usw.
Man mag das Pseudonym der Autorin charmant finden, doch es passt auffällig auch zu ihrer Art zu schreiben. Rowan Coleman wollte ein ähnliches Pseudonym wie Emily Brontë, die sich Ellis Bell nannte. Bell (engl.) steht für Glocke aber was wurde hier daraus? Die schöne Ellis - Bella Ellis, Twilight lässt grüßen.
Ich mag "Jane Eyre", insofern fühle ich mich hier bei gewissen Aspekten daran erinnert, worauf ich ja auch hoffte. Leider bleibt es dabei. So lässt die Autorin die Schwestern munter durch die Gegend bzw Geschichte trudeln. Dabei gehen sie plump, grob und unüberlegt vor, loben sich aber permanent selbst, wie klug sie doch seien, viel schlauer und besser als jeder Mann. Das nervte mich sowieso. Denn ganz im Gegenteil ist die Naivität der Schwestern dafür, dass sie hier als Detektivinnen unterwegs seien wollen, erschreckend.
spoilerfreies Beispiel:
Man bekam für geringere Vergehen als Einbruch in Zusammenhang mit Diebstahl damals eine Freifahrt nach Australien. Die Aktion war einfach nur dämlich!
Ich sollte damit aufhören, Bücher zu lesen, in denen adaptiv ein bekannter Roman neu erzählt wird oder man den Autoren fiktive biographische Begebenheiten andichtet. Bisher waren diese Romane für mich immer eine Enttäuschung.
Harry Potter - Barry Trotter
Herr der Ringe - Herr der Augenringe
Star Wars - Star Warped: Die Krieg der Sterne-Parodie
Gut, das sind alles Parodien und wenn einem der Humor nicht zusagt, hat man Pech gehabt.
Dann gibt es noch solche Adaptionen wie "Stolz und Vorurteil und Zombies". Ich hätte es bei dem Film belassen sollen. Die Zombies waren nicht die Bereicherung, die ich erwartet hatte aber Seth Grahame-Smith kann wohl nur in Plump.
Dann probierte ich es mit einem Roman, der in die amerikanische Gegenwart transponiert wurde. Leider fand ich Curtis Sittenfelds "Vermählung - nach Stolz und Vorurteil" (The Austen Project #4) nur kitschig und trivial geschrieben.
Dann gibt es noch die Kategorie der Geschichten, in denen bekannten Autoren etwas angedichtet wird, wie in "Jane Austen bleibt zum Frühstück". Der Roman von Manuela Inusa war nun nicht ganz so schlimm wie "Vermählung" aber ich hätte darauf verzichten können.
Warum also greife ich immer wieder zu solchen Büchern? Weil ich die Originale liebe und ein hoffnungsloses Opfer bin. Und darum sind mein Frust und meine Enttäuschung auch so groß, wenn ich nicht bekomme, was ich erhoffte.
Noch etwas.
Im Wissen, mich bei einem Teil der weiblichen Leserschaft unbeliebt zu machen, muss doch sagen, dass ich diesen Roman sexistisch finde. Der Fokus der Autorin war so dermaßen darauf gerichtet, permanent aufzuzählen, wo überall Frauen zu dieser Zeit diskriminiert wurden, dass es völlig unverhältnismäßig wurde. Am Ende waren bei ihr Frauen supertoll (grob gesagt) und Männer bis auf wenigen Ausnahmen gehören ausgerottet. Ich hatte den Eindruck, dass dies die Kernaussage der Autorin in ihrem Roman war und das finde ich alles andere als nett.
Augen um Auge und Zahn um Zahn?
Gleiches mit Gleichem heimzuzahlen hat in meinen Augen nichts mit Emanzipation zu tun.
Bevor ich wieder gefragt werde, hier schnell dazu, meinen persönlichen Lesegeschmack setze ich in meiner Bewertung nicht so hoch an. Er ist nur das Zünglein an der Waage. (Allerdings gibt es Ausnahmen 🙊🙊🙊)
Im Bemühen, authentisch rüber zu kommen, tut die Autorin Bella Ellis in ihrem Roman "Die verschwundene Braut" immer des Guten zu viel. Das war etwas, das mir sofort auffiel. Dadurch wirken Dialoge gekünstelt und Aktionen nicht überzeugend - beispielsweise die Begegnung mit den Honeychurchs. Das war so unglaubwürdig!
Nicht, WAS Anne und ihre Schwester erzählten hätte in Frage gestellt werden sollen, sondern dass SIE es erzählten usw usw.
Man mag das Pseudonym der Autorin charmant finden, doch es passt auffällig auch zu ihrer Art zu schreiben. Rowan Coleman wollte ein ähnliches Pseudonym wie Emily Brontë, die sich Ellis Bell nannte. Bell (engl.) steht für Glocke aber was wurde hier daraus? Die schöne Ellis - Bella Ellis, Twilight lässt grüßen.
Ich mag "Jane Eyre", insofern fühle ich mich hier bei gewissen Aspekten daran erinnert, worauf ich ja auch hoffte. Leider bleibt es dabei. So lässt die Autorin die Schwestern munter durch die Gegend bzw Geschichte trudeln. Dabei gehen sie plump, grob und unüberlegt vor, loben sich aber permanent selbst, wie klug sie doch seien, viel schlauer und besser als jeder Mann. Das nervte mich sowieso. Denn ganz im Gegenteil ist die Naivität der Schwestern dafür, dass sie hier als Detektivinnen unterwegs seien wollen, erschreckend.
spoilerfreies Beispiel:
Man bekam für geringere Vergehen als Einbruch in Zusammenhang mit Diebstahl damals eine Freifahrt nach Australien. Die Aktion war einfach nur dämlich!
Ich sollte damit aufhören, Bücher zu lesen, in denen adaptiv ein bekannter Roman neu erzählt wird oder man den Autoren fiktive biographische Begebenheiten andichtet. Bisher waren diese Romane für mich immer eine Enttäuschung.
Harry Potter - Barry Trotter
Herr der Ringe - Herr der Augenringe
Star Wars - Star Warped: Die Krieg der Sterne-Parodie
Gut, das sind alles Parodien und wenn einem der Humor nicht zusagt, hat man Pech gehabt.
Dann gibt es noch solche Adaptionen wie "Stolz und Vorurteil und Zombies". Ich hätte es bei dem Film belassen sollen. Die Zombies waren nicht die Bereicherung, die ich erwartet hatte aber Seth Grahame-Smith kann wohl nur in Plump.
Dann probierte ich es mit einem Roman, der in die amerikanische Gegenwart transponiert wurde. Leider fand ich Curtis Sittenfelds "Vermählung - nach Stolz und Vorurteil" (The Austen Project #4) nur kitschig und trivial geschrieben.
Dann gibt es noch die Kategorie der Geschichten, in denen bekannten Autoren etwas angedichtet wird, wie in "Jane Austen bleibt zum Frühstück". Der Roman von Manuela Inusa war nun nicht ganz so schlimm wie "Vermählung" aber ich hätte darauf verzichten können.
Warum also greife ich immer wieder zu solchen Büchern? Weil ich die Originale liebe und ein hoffnungsloses Opfer bin. Und darum sind mein Frust und meine Enttäuschung auch so groß, wenn ich nicht bekomme, was ich erhoffte.
Noch etwas.
Im Wissen, mich bei einem Teil der weiblichen Leserschaft unbeliebt zu machen, muss doch sagen, dass ich diesen Roman sexistisch finde. Der Fokus der Autorin war so dermaßen darauf gerichtet, permanent aufzuzählen, wo überall Frauen zu dieser Zeit diskriminiert wurden, dass es völlig unverhältnismäßig wurde. Am Ende waren bei ihr Frauen supertoll (grob gesagt) und Männer bis auf wenigen Ausnahmen gehören ausgerottet. Ich hatte den Eindruck, dass dies die Kernaussage der Autorin in ihrem Roman war und das finde ich alles andere als nett.
Augen um Auge und Zahn um Zahn?
Gleiches mit Gleichem heimzuzahlen hat in meinen Augen nichts mit Emanzipation zu tun.
August 20, 2019
Do you know I have never in my life read Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights or any of the Bronte sisters books? I know, I'm ashamed to even admit that. I want to read them though and I need to make time to do that soon. Being an avid reader though, I am familiar with the sisters and it's the reason I found this mystery book intriguing. This story takes you back to a period before the sisters became famous writers. They aren't like most of the women from that era so they would much rather travel around unchaperoned and dabble in a mystery involving a friend of theirs, then sit at home all day playing nursemaid to their brother Branwell, who is always drunk or hungover.
As for the actual mystery, I thought it was really well written. It's complex and extremely engaging. I was glued to the story from beginning to end. It's not a mystery you'll solve quickly either which is always nice I think. I like to be kept in the dark as long as possible.
I really hope the author has plans to involve the Bronte sisters in more amateur detection, in the near future. If so, I will gladly tag along with them again on another sleuthing adventure.
*I received this ARC from the First to Read program in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
As for the actual mystery, I thought it was really well written. It's complex and extremely engaging. I was glued to the story from beginning to end. It's not a mystery you'll solve quickly either which is always nice I think. I like to be kept in the dark as long as possible.
I really hope the author has plans to involve the Bronte sisters in more amateur detection, in the near future. If so, I will gladly tag along with them again on another sleuthing adventure.
*I received this ARC from the First to Read program in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
December 10, 2019
For those of who you do not know, Bella Ellis is a pen name for author Rowan Coleman and I’m getting to that stage where I’m beginning to think she can just write me a shopping list and I’ll read it and love every word of it.
A young mother disappears from her home, leaving only a big pile of blood in her bedroom but no clue as to her whereabouts. When word of this mystery reaches the home of the Brontë sisters, they take it upon themselves to go out and try to solve what happened to this young woman.
I was a little wary at first to have these three pretty iconic characters fictionalised as “lady detectors”, investigating a possible crime. But the warmth with which Bella Ellis brings these sisters to life won me over from the get-go. It is abundantly clear from reading this first instalment in the Brontë Mysteries that Bella Ellis deeply loves Charlotte, Emily and Anne and that a lot of research went into this. I soon found myself pulled along in their enthusiasm trying to solve the case of the vanished bride.
But The Vanished Bride is more than just a mystery. It highlights the plight of women in those days; how they were seen as property; how they weren’t allowed their own opinions or were definitely not allowed to voice them; how their place was at home, raising children and most definitely not running wild across the countryside. Some of these women truly suffered but they had no means to escape some of the brutal events they had to endure. These circumstances stand in sharp contrast with the peaceful lives of the sisters.
Beautifully written, hugely atmospheric and with engaging characters, The Vanished Bride made me wish I could run across the fields and the moors along with the Brontë sisters. Each sister has a distinctive voice and with each one of them getting their own point-of-view, it truly allows the reader to get to know them better. Throughout the story, I leaned more towards Emily but at the end, through all the squabbles and disagreements, rivalry and slight jealousy, giggles and love, I realised I adored all three equally. I absolutely loved The Vanished Bride and I can’t wait to spend more time with these three characters, solving the next mystery they are sure to stumble upon.
A young mother disappears from her home, leaving only a big pile of blood in her bedroom but no clue as to her whereabouts. When word of this mystery reaches the home of the Brontë sisters, they take it upon themselves to go out and try to solve what happened to this young woman.
I was a little wary at first to have these three pretty iconic characters fictionalised as “lady detectors”, investigating a possible crime. But the warmth with which Bella Ellis brings these sisters to life won me over from the get-go. It is abundantly clear from reading this first instalment in the Brontë Mysteries that Bella Ellis deeply loves Charlotte, Emily and Anne and that a lot of research went into this. I soon found myself pulled along in their enthusiasm trying to solve the case of the vanished bride.
But The Vanished Bride is more than just a mystery. It highlights the plight of women in those days; how they were seen as property; how they weren’t allowed their own opinions or were definitely not allowed to voice them; how their place was at home, raising children and most definitely not running wild across the countryside. Some of these women truly suffered but they had no means to escape some of the brutal events they had to endure. These circumstances stand in sharp contrast with the peaceful lives of the sisters.
Beautifully written, hugely atmospheric and with engaging characters, The Vanished Bride made me wish I could run across the fields and the moors along with the Brontë sisters. Each sister has a distinctive voice and with each one of them getting their own point-of-view, it truly allows the reader to get to know them better. Throughout the story, I leaned more towards Emily but at the end, through all the squabbles and disagreements, rivalry and slight jealousy, giggles and love, I realised I adored all three equally. I absolutely loved The Vanished Bride and I can’t wait to spend more time with these three characters, solving the next mystery they are sure to stumble upon.
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