The Brontes in Brussels, Helen MacEwan

The Brontes in Brussels, Helen MacEwanNew Paperback A fascinating look at a crucial turning point in the Bront sisters' lives In 1842, five years before they would become bestselling authors, Charlotte Bront and her sister Emily arrived in Brussels. They were there to improve their French and German, but the years they spent in a pensionnat being taught by the charismatic Constantin Heger would do much more than polish their languages. It was a crucial turning point for both their writing

A curiosity cabinet of romantic treasure

miracle-workers and jinn-summoners--all assured the masses that

Determined that they wouldn't spend the rest of the conflict incarcerated uselessly behind bars

With a keen eye for the absurd

or their apparent cheerfulness in the face of extreme weather conditions

a bright and inquisitive child

psychiatry and frustrated ventures into the world of entertainment are analysed with patience and rueful humour

Virtually everything runs on chips: cars

famed for their brilliant

Lesser-known peaks and extraordinary rock formations

at the knees of childhood nurses

Our tastes are engineered in food factories