Book Review

The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte (2008)

EW's GRADE
A-

Details Release Date: Mar 13, 2008; Writer: Laura Joh Rowland; Genres: Fiction, Mystery; Publisher: Overlook

SNOOP SISTERS The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë imagines the author and her siblings as Victorian-era crime solvers — and... | The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte
SNOOP SISTERS The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë imagines the author and her siblings as Victorian-era crime solvers — and does not Eyre

I'm what's known in literary circles as a ''Jane-ite''— someone who rereads Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre at least once a year — so I was prepared to loathe The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë, which transforms Brontë and her sisters Emily and Anne into 19th-century sleuths investigating the stabbing death of a young governess. But Laura Joh Rowland (Red Chrysanthemum) not only evokes Victorian-era London with a sure hand in this detective novel, she creates a believable Charlotte whose intelligence, stubbornness, and wit recall Jane at every turn. Even more important, the mystery itself is particularly fine. A-

Originally posted Mar 14, 2008 Published in issue #983 Mar 21, 2008 Order article reprints

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