Emily Bronte: A Biography (Oxford Lives)

First published in 1971, and here reissued for the second time, the emphasis of this book is firmly on the biographical rather than the literary. The author has also written biographies of Charlotte Bronte and Elizabeth Gaskell. Emily was perhaps the least accessible of the Bronte sisters, and Winifred Gerin presents a balanced impression of her life, without becoming dazzled by her strangeness. She probes her withdrawn, mystical character, but counters it with an appreciation of her practicality and humanity. She traces Emily's development from unhappy schooldays, through her love of walking on the moors, the writing of "Gondal", "Wuthering Heights", the French Essays and her poems, to her death.