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A review by bobsacoolword
The Mother of the Brontës: When Maria Met Patrick by Sharon Wright
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Sitting back in my English classes, I used to wonder what the authors of the books we were reading were like but I never thought I'd be glad I know more about what the mother of the famous Brontë sisters was like. This biography covers the entire life of Maria Branwell, from her birth in 1783 to her sickness and death at the age of 38. You'll learn about her upbringing in Penzance to a working-class family (with some interesting stories about her family's ties to the smuggling trade). You'll get to hear about the books she read as she started approaching spinsterhood, which includes some Jane Austen. You'll be inspired by her likely dangerous journey to join her aunt and uncle in Yorkshire to help them run their school and pleasantly surprised when it led to a romance with a handsome Irishman, the school's external classics examiner, Patrick Brontë. After they were married, Maria followed Patrick and his career as a priest, giving birth to future famous authors along the way. Eventually, Patrick was offered a difficult post at Hayworth (a setting that would eventually inspire Wuthering Heights) and you'll feel bad for how badly Maria and Patrick must have wanted the congregation to accept them. And when Maria gets sick later, your heart will break for the children she will leave behind, who will write stories featuring characters without mothers or characters with unique connections to their mothers.
For me, the best part was getting to read her words. She created authors people have studied in schools for years. She helped to shape the early years of writers that would someday grace hundreds of must-read classic novel lists. There's not much surviving of Maria Branwell, which the author notes could be why we never had a biography for her until now. But now you can read the pieces that are surviving: several letters she wrote to Patrick and a religious tract that she wrote but wasn't able to get published.
One thing I really appreciate is that in every part of Maria's life, the author takes the time to explain things about the culture or society in that day that could be helpful to know. You can tell that this was incredibly well-researched, not only because the author was told there wasn't enough information about Maria Branwell to create a full biography for her, but because she genuinely wanted to tell the story of the mother of the Brontës.
For me, the best part was getting to read her words. She created authors people have studied in schools for years. She helped to shape the early years of writers that would someday grace hundreds of must-read classic novel lists. There's not much surviving of Maria Branwell, which the author notes could be why we never had a biography for her until now. But now you can read the pieces that are surviving: several letters she wrote to Patrick and a religious tract that she wrote but wasn't able to get published.
One thing I really appreciate is that in every part of Maria's life, the author takes the time to explain things about the culture or society in that day that could be helpful to know. You can tell that this was incredibly well-researched, not only because the author was told there wasn't enough information about Maria Branwell to create a full biography for her, but because she genuinely wanted to tell the story of the mother of the Brontës.
Content Warnings
Minor: Cancer