When I read the blurb for this book, I was instantly intrigued. While I’m no lover of nature and have no desire to wander the Yorkshire moors in all weathers (as this writer has done), I do love literary heritage. So of course I want to know about the buildings and villages and landscapes that inspired the Brontes. But one must approach this with a keen understanding that this saga is not as much about the titular Bronte Sisters as it is heavily devoted to the story of their troubled brother Bramwell, and the devastation he often imposed upon the family, the sacrifices they had to make on his behalf and the struggles they endured dealing with his addictions.

I walked recently through the North York Moors national park and along the Yorkshire coast, reaching Scarborough, and climbed towards its castle high on a clifftop, and to the grave of Anne Brontë, who died aged 29 and is buried in a churchyard beneath the castle. By the sea she so loved, it was easy to see and feel how the landscape of the north so powerfully shaped the literature and lives of the Brontës. This evocative book encourages people to engage with the places that proved so inspirational. As I walk, Anne’s haunting last words to her sister Charlotte echo through my mind: “Take courage.” Bookworm, Mum and English teacher. Resident of Cheshire in the rainy north of England but an Essex girl at heart and by birth. It is a walking book, but it is also a social and literary history of the North,” Stewart writes. Along the way, he perceptively excavates the past, exploring how it was in the north that the Industrial Revolution took off, “thanks to a combination of soft water, steep hills and cheap labour”. As well as fascinating historical context, he paints a vivid portrait of the present day, too, as he walks through landscapes both bleak and beautiful, equally adept at capturing the gloom of an industrial estate and “a brilliant blue and golden orange kingfisher”, which makes him think of a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem. He compellingly conjures the force of the winds, the earthy smell of peat bogs, the haunting call of the curlew, the sound of skylarks. I want you to walk with me but to see through their eyes as I compare the times they lived in with the times we live in now. The book makes you want to walk in Stewart’s (and the Brontës’!) footsteps and I can’t wait to visit Yorkshire again with the volume in hand. I especially loved reading about the genesis of the Brontë Stones project—a group of stones with poems honoring the sisters, which walkers can visit in the Thornton/Haworth area—and about the wide range of personalities whom Stewart has encountered due to their voracious love of the Brontës. He doesn’t offer a definitive answer as to why so many of us continue to be fascinated by one of literature’s most famous families, but his book will be a valuable artifact speaking to the early twenty-first-century version of the Brontë Myth (one which owes more to Kate Bush than to academia).

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This is a literary study of both the social and natural history that has inspired writers and walkers, and the writings of a family that have touched readers for generations. The book also takes a walk on the wild side of the north of England now. Following in the footsteps of the Brontës across meadow and moor, through village and town, award-winning writer Michael Stewart takes a series of inspirational walks through the lives and landscapes of the Brontë family, investigating the geographical and social features that shaped their work. As well as being full of interesting facts and figures about the South Pennine Hills (West of Bradford), this is a travelogue with heart and soul. It’s easy to see how passionate Stewart is of this windswept land of purple heather, wuthering weather and moors as far as the eye can see. It’s a love letter to the Brontë’s and the area they called home. I completely did not expect, then, to be utterly immersed by Michael Stewart’s blend of literary biography, meditative nature writing, walking tour, and northern history. As co-creator of the Brontë Stones project – which saw poems about each Brontë sibling carved onto stones and set into the landscape in and around Thornton and Haworth – Stewart knows the landscape around the Brontë family’s homes intimately, and shares their passion for its wild majesty. The drama was filmed mostly in Yorkshire with Haworth being used extensively during filming. [7] A replica of the Parsonage at Haworth was constructed on the moorland in Penistone Hill Country Park, just west of Haworth. This allowed external scenes to be filmed away from the real Parsonage in the village. The replica parsonage was also added to with other buildings and a street to make a small set of how Haworth looked at the time of the Brontës, with at least one local councillor pointing out that in their time, the Parsonage was not shaded by trees as it is now. [8]

What can I say. Michael Stewart knows how to describe scenery, and for that part I really loved this book, but at times, it also was boring and I noticed I stopped caring. I can't really say more than that it was okay and that it's okay to be just that. Maybe if you really are into the Brontes, it's more your cup of tea, but for me it was slightly too much and I just zoned out to enjoy the 'scenery' as if I was walking through the landscapes that were described.

Meanwhile, the sisters have written novels and begin to send them out for publication. Charlotte takes their father for cataract surgery and during his recovery period she begins work on a second novel, Jane Eyre. In the United States, it aired on 26 March 2017 on PBS as part of Masterpiece Theater, under the title To Walk Invisible: The Brontë Sisters. [3] Title [ edit ] What comes in between the introduction of the book and this delightful appendix of maps, is a sprawling narrative, in which Stewart intersperses his personal wanderings along the various Brontë trails, with memories and asides, bits of Brontë biography, conjecture about characters in the novels, historial fact and analysis, and random anecdotes about the people he meets on his travels. It is a confusing, though lively approach, which might flummox any reader not as intimately connected with the local geography – and the lives of the Brontës – as Stewart is himself. A more conventional, contextual overview, both of the landscape and of the lives of the main protagonists, would have been helpful. But there is plenty here to delight and to intrigue. At the end of the book, the hand drawn maps of these trails are included, with interesting titbits of information, and quirky pencil-drawn pictures alongside.

Through the eyes of Stewart I saw Haworth, the pub Branwell frequented, the school Emily taught, and Ponden Kirk. Walking the Invisible is a must read for every book/literary enthusiast with a love of the great outdoors. It may help if you are familiar with the Brontës’ work but it can still be appreciated without this knowledge. The content is fascinating along with some very thought-provoking theories. It is accompanied by some interesting notes, poems, sketches and walking routes. The author clearly shows his depth of knowledge and has researched the subject in considerable depth. It may even tempt you to revisit the work of the Brontës and perhaps look upon it in a slightly different light. A fabulous book and I learnt so much. Gradually he started reading novels by all the Brontës, then their poems and letters, their published and unpublished work. In time, Stewart even moved to Thornton – the birthplace of the Brontë siblings, before they moved to Haworth – and became interested in their lives, as well as their work. He began to tread the paths they would have taken, walking – and almost stalking – them into life, inside his own mind and body. As he roamed, he spoke his experiences into a dictaphone, creating the material for this book along the way.

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Wilson, Fiona (24 December 2016). "Sisters are doing it for themselves: the Brontës' own story". The Times. No.72102. Saturday Review. p.11. ISSN 0140-0460. a b Knights, David (9 January 2017). "Emily a corpse, Branwell overplayed, Charlotte a dried-up woman – Brontë icon's verdict on To Walk Invisible". Keighley News . Retrieved 11 January 2017. Rees, Jasper (29 December 2016). "To Walk Invisible review: the Brontë sisters brought to fizzing, furious life". The Telegraph . Retrieved 1 January 2017. To Walk Invisible is a British television film about the Brontë family that aired on BBC One on 29 December 2016. [1] The drama was written and directed by Sally Wainwright and focused on the relationship of the three Brontë sisters; Charlotte, Emily and Anne, and their brother, Branwell. [2] However, as well as being about the Brontes, this is also very much about Stewart’s experiences and thoughts too. He proves to be an interesting guide as he walks the routes with various Bronte experts and his dog, Wolfie. There’s a heavy-duty commitment to the project evident in the fact he braves some terrible weather and shows a willingness to camp out en route (something I’d see as way beyond the call of duty!)

Cast revealed for Sally Wainwright's new BBC One drama, To Walk Invisible". bbc.co.uk. BBC Media Centre. 21 April 2016 . Retrieved 19 November 2016. The book is thoughtful and humorous and perfectly evokes the character and landscapes of the places described. The Brontes are discussed not in a detached, academic way, but through a number of walks covering large parts of the north of England in which their lives and works were rooted. For those who have read Michael Stewart's novel Ill Will, which re-imagines the story of Heathcliff, this book is its perfect non-fiction counterpart. Bramwell, a man who achieved in his life next to nothing, has two statues in his memory, in a landscape where a woman can change the world and be unknown. This sort of book adds to that sense of injustice.

Audio review: Great choice of narrator however the audio in this ARC is far too quiet! It was almost impossible to listen while driving, even with the volume on both my phone and the car radio maxed out. It wasn't much better with headphones. I'm assuming that the audio will be cleaned up before release but it ruined an other wise great audio book. Of course, then (although Michael and I are yet to meet in real life!), I was excited to read his latest (non-fiction) book, Walking the Invisible, which was published last year. Part memoir, part history book, part hiking guide, Walking the Invisible is hard to categorize. It’s a book born out of Stewart’s love of nature and the Brontës, and as much about our century as it is about the nineteenth. He doesn’t shy away from talking about the social challenges and changes facing many of the towns, big and small, the Brontës lived in, and moves between education, political commentary, and personal anecdote seamlessly. The title of the drama comes from a letter that Charlotte Brontë had written to her publisher about once meeting a clergyman who did not realise that she was Currer Bell. It suited her and her sisters that they were not famous; "What author would be without the advantage of being able to walk invisible?" [4] Plot [ edit ] I read this to accompany a recent trip to Bronte country. Subtitled, 'Following in the Bronte's footsteps,' this is both a guide book, but also an inspirational read. Stewart states, 'I don't believe that anyone can really connect, can really understand, the Bronte's literary oeuvre without experiencing this uniquely bleak countryside.' Previously, I may not have agreed, but on my second trip to Bronte country, I think I know what the author means. It is beautiful, remote, bleak indeed. Rolling moors, no agriculture, just endless, unfolding moorland.