Elizabeth Branwell was born in Penzance in 1770, a member of a large and influential Cornish family of merchants and property owners. In 1821 her life changed forever when her sister Maria fell dangerously ill. Leaving her comfortable life behind, Elizabeth made the long journey north to a remote moorland village in Yorkshire to nurse her sister. After the death of Maria, Elizabeth assumed the role of second mother to her nephew and five nieces. She would never see Cornwall again, but instead dedicated her life to her new family: the Bronts of Haworth, to whom she was known as Aunt Branwell.In this first ever biography of Elizabeth Branwell, we see at last the huge impact she had on Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bront, as well as on her nephew Branwell Bront who spiralled out of control away from her calming influence. It was a legacy in Aunt Branwell's will that led directly to the Bront books we love today, but her influence on their lives and characters was equally important. As opposed to the stern aunt portrayed by Mrs. Gaskell in her biography of Charlotte Bront, we find a kind hearted woman who sacrificed everything for the children she came to love. This revealing book also looks at the Branwell family, and how their misfortunes mirrored that of the Bronts, and we find out what happened to the Bront cousin who emigrated to America, and in doing so uncover the closest living relatives to the Bront sisters today.

The groundbreaking biography of Maria Branwell reveals a remarkable woman who has been lost in the shadows of her gifted children, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë. The witty, clever and intrepid Cornish lady of letters, lover of Patrick and mother of genius has been missing for too long. The extraordinary Brontës were a family like no other and it all began when Maria met Patrick.

This boxed set of Charlotte and Emily Bronte novels includes Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Villette. Jane Eyre and Villette are introduced by Lucy Hughes-Hallett, while Wuthering Heights is introduced by Katherine Franks, author of Emily Bronte: A Chainless Soul.

Anne Brontë, the youngest and most enigmatic of the Brontë sisters, remains a bestselling author nearly two centuries after her death. The brilliance of her two novels – Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – and her poetry belies the quiet, yet courageous girl who often lived in the shadows of her more celebrated sisters. Yet her writing was the most revolutionary of all the Brontës, pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable. This revealing new biography opens Anne's most private life to a new audience and shows the true nature of her relationship with her sister Charlotte.

Includes the novels Jane Eyre, Villette, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

"This book has as its subject the manipulation of a reputation." "Its starting point is Charlotte Bronte's attempt to manage her own and her sisters' public image in the face of Victorian prejudice against their passionate novels. Their first biographer, Mrs. Gaskell, transformed their story of literary ambition into one of the great legends of the nineteenth century, a dramatic tale of three lonely sisters playing out their tragic destiny on top of a windswept moor. Lucasta Miller reveals where this image came from and how it took such a hold on the popular imagination." "Since 1857, hardly a year has gone by without some sort of Bronte 'biography' appearing."