Another atmospheric and heart-warming artist novel from the pen of Stephanie Cowell!

The New York author specialises in historical fiction and biographical artist novels. Her best-known novel in Germany is ‘The Woman in the Green Dress’ – original title ‘Claude & Camille’ – which is about the life of the impressionist Claude Monet.

 

Cowell is known for her profound research into the period. Every little detail, even in the domestic sphere, fits into the picture of the times. That is why her novels feel so authentic. She fills in the gaps in the biographies with plausible stories, breathing new life into those who have long since passed away.

 

In ‘The Man in the Stone Cottage’ I was immersed right away in 19th-century Yorkshire after just a few lines. Charlotte and Emily Brontë's characters are finely crafted and therefore absolutely credible.

 

This is what it is about:

The Bronte family's life is threatened by bitter poverty. The father is a country parson. His health is not at its best. The church council already wonders whether he is still fit for office. But he has to be because he is the only one of the family who contributes to the household income. His wife died early and his four children, now grown up, are not really getting their act together.

  

The only male descendant – and therefore the predestined breadwinner of the family – is Branwell, a portrait painter who has been accepted to study at Cambridge University, but does not take up his place. He cannot quite decide what career to pursue. So he bridges the time for reflection by working as an art teacher in private homes. When he begins an affair with his employer's wife, he loses not only his job but also his reputation. His family is shocked.

  

Emily is the second youngest and middle child of three sisters. She keeps the house tidy and looks after her elderly father. Otherwise, she lives entirely for her written poems and stories.

 

Charlotte, the eldest, has just given up her job at a school in Brussels. She had fallen in love with the headmaster – a married man! – and confessed her love to him in a note she carelessly slipped under his office door. Unfortunately, his wife was the first to find the love letter. Needless to say, Charlotte is not allowed to return to her post at the school after the Christmas holidays.

 

There also is the youngest sister, Anne, who is doing her best as a governess, but misses her home and family terribly. She would also like to quit.

 

This is the situation in which Charlotte considers founding her own school in Haworth. She works on the plan for a whole year and puts all her savings into it. Her siblings are all willing to act as teachers for the various subjects.

But she hasn't taken the villagers into account. When the school opens, there isn't a single enrolment. 

 

That's why Charlotte’s and Emily's emergency plan is to pursue careers as writers. However, Charlotte's request to a renowned author of his time to assess the potential of her enclosed poems was rather rudely dismissed. Women had no place in literature, he said; they are not suitable for that!

 

So a male pseudonym is needed. But even then, the road ahead is rocky. It seems impossible to find a publisher. Their manuscripts are rejected one after the other and often end up back in their post box without a single line of feedback. But Charlotte does not give up.

 

The first person willing to publish some of her poems demands money in return. Only if the poetry collection sells well he will release another volume at his own expense. (Note: This is still common practice today. Hybrid publishers require authors to contribute to the printing costs in order to reduce their business risk.)  Charlotte agrees and scrapes together all her remaining savings.

But her dream of becoming a famous writer quickly gives way to disillusionment when her published poetry collection sold only two copies.

 

To get over her disappointment, she writes a novel: The Professor. With the same result. The novel is rejected. 

Charlotte is devastated; nothing seems to be working out. Neither the school project nor the career as a writer.

 

Meanwhile, the rather reserved Emily has written her famous novel ‘Wuthering Heights’ – in secret. Apart from that, she is preoccupied with romantic matters. On one of her lonely walks on the moors, she finds a new occupant in a once abandoned cottage: the mysterious young shepherd Jonathan, who originally comes from one of the Hebrides islands. At first, she approaches him shyly, almost dismissively. But over time, a tender bond develops between the two. Emily does not tell her family about it.

 

When she finally confides in her sister, she is reprimanded for approaching a man unaccompanied, let alone entering his cottage! The others doubt that Jonathan really exists. They are certain that he is merely a figment of Emily's imagination, born of the solitude of the Yorkshire moors.

 

These two contrasting narrative strands – the realistic Charlotte and the dreamy Emily – encapsulate the entire family history of the Brontës in a very poetic way. For despite their poverty, the Brontë family possesses something very precious: their unshakeable love for each other.

 

The rest is history. All three sisters ultimately enjoyed success with their novels, published under a male pseudonym. However, Emily was only able to enjoy this success for just under a year. She died at the age of 30. Also Charlotte suffered a sad fate after her brief fame.

 

 

If you think now I've already given away the entire content of the book and that you therefore don't need to read it, you're absolutely wrong! 

The biographies of the Brontë sisters are well known and can be read on Wikipedia. But ‘The Man in the Stone Cottage’ is not about the what, but the how.

 

Stephanie Cowell draws the reader into the poor parsonage in Haworth with the very first lines and lets us share in the everyday life of the Brontës, their dreams and hopes, their disappointments and strokes of fate.

 

Beside that I was somewhat stunned to discover that not much has changed in the publishing industry since that time – 180 years ago! It is only down to luck that a small London publisher dared to publish Charlotte's novel and those of her sisters. Otherwise, we would be missing out of these fabulous English classics. 

Did I encourage you to read this novel? Then please let me know.

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