Charlotte received two and a half years of formal education, Anne received only two years, and Emily just a year and a half. While Branwell attended Haworth Grammar school for a short period of time, the girls were sent individually and collectively to boarding schools. Raised by a busy cleric and their mother’s spinster sister, the three sisters and their brother Branwell were left largely on their own. As a pastor, Patrick Brontë performed many baptisms and nearly as many funerals, two of which were for his eldest daughters, who died at the ages of ten and eleven, and one for his wife, who lived to be thirty-eight. First recorded as a village in 1209, the area was, like all of Yorkshire, victimized by ravages of the Industrial Revolution: when the Brontës arrived, the town was overcrowded and unhygienic, with a life expectancy in the area of only twenty-two years. 'If you're in search of a readable, yet detailed, biography of the Bronte sisters, then look no further than Reef's account, an ideal supplement to any student's reading of the Bronte classics.In 1820, Patrick and Maria Brontë moved their family of six children to Haworth, a hamlet in West Yorkshire ninety kilometers (or fifty-six miles) from the forenamed city. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 'This biography for middle-schoolers introduces a fascinating, close-knit family with lively imaginations who liked nothing better than to run free on the moors that surrounded their home and make up stories and poems about imaginary kingdoms.' 'For anyone who has ever loved the romantic yet melancholy Heathcliff or the determined Jane Eyre, this book belongs on your shelf.' A comprehensive introduction to the authors behind some of the most-studied novels in English literature.'

'A detail-rich look at the lives of the Bronte sisters, whose work shocked, entertained, and provoked the minds of their Victorian audiences.

A solid and captivating look at these remarkable pioneers of modern fiction.' 'Gracefully plotted, carefully researched.

'For readers discovering the wonder of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, this collective biography of the Bronte family fills in fascinating detail of their personal and public lives. reads like a novel, with rich and evocative language.' -The New York Times Book Review 'Romance and heartache and doom, oh my! This beautifully written and researched account.

The Brontë Sisters by Catherine Reef