海角大神

British writer Karen Powell鈥檚 darkly atmospheric second novel, 鈥淔ifteen Wild Decembers,鈥� offers a fresh perspective on the talented Bront毛 family, whose childhoods on the isolated, rain-lashed West Yorkshire moors nurtured their hearts and fueled their imaginations. 聽

The broad outlines of Powell鈥檚 narrative will be familiar to devotees of the Bront毛 sisters鈥� fiction and poetry, particularly Charlotte鈥檚 tale of an unsentimental education, 鈥淛ane Eyre,鈥� and Emily鈥檚 groundbreaking Gothic romance, 鈥淲uthering Heights.鈥澛�

Powell鈥檚 decision to have Emily narrate 鈥淔ifteen Wild Decembers鈥� is a shrewd move. She hands the mic (or pen!) back to the shy, nature-loving fourth of five daughters of widower and curate Patrick Bront毛. Emily鈥檚 voice, which was somewhat drowned out posthumously by her surviving sister Charlotte, comes through forcefully here.

The novel鈥檚 title and overarching themes are encapsulated in one of Emily鈥檚 elegiac poems, 鈥淩emembrance.鈥� In it, she evokes a lost loved one, possibly one of her two older sisters, Maria or Elizabeth, who, along with several schoolmates, died in the tuberculosis and typhoid outbreak that tore through their harsh boarding school during the brutal winter of 1825. 聽

Recalling that terrible time, Emily writes of the 鈥渇ifteen wild Decembers鈥� that 鈥渉ave [since] melted into spring鈥� and asserts: 鈥淔aith, indeed, is the spirit that remembers /聽 After such years of change and suffering.鈥�

鈥淔ifteen Wild Decembers鈥� encompasses much hardship, but also much pleasure in the Bront毛s鈥� deep connections with each other, their writing, and the wild, windswept Yorkshire landscape. Emily鈥檚 first-person narrative spans the years 1824 through 1848, from the time when she was first sent away at age 7 to join her older sisters at the joyless Clergy Daughters鈥� School at Cowan Bridge (later immortalized as Lowood in 鈥淛ane Eyre鈥�) until her death at age 30 from TB, the disease that affected all her siblings save Charlotte.聽

During those years, the Bront毛s鈥� driving concern, propelled by the knowledge that they would be evicted from the Haworth parish house after their father鈥檚 death, is how to earn a living. The roles of teacher or governess are the only respectable options open to the young women. Their brother Branwell鈥檚 possibilities are greater, but so are his failures, and his sisters rue the sad, dissolute mess he makes of his life.聽

The novel chronicles Charlotte, Emily, and Anne鈥檚 forays into various schools and households. One by one, they boomerang home to Haworth after miserable, short-lived stints at grueling, thankless, poorly paid teaching positions. Charlotte comments, 鈥淥h, we have no luck in this world, no matter what we do.鈥澛�

As readers know, the three sisters eventually hit upon more suitable employment.

Writing, which they initially pursue in private with little thought of remuneration or fame, allows them to stay together in their beloved corner of West Yorkshire. Before they turn to novels, which are deemed to offer greater financial potential, the sisters cut their teeth on poetry and an involved, mind-numbingly dull (at least in this telling) epic fantasy about the myths and legends of Gondal, a fictional world that preoccupied Anne and Emily for years.聽

Powell, who has written of her own long, indirect journey to the publication of her first novel, 鈥淭he River Within鈥� (2020) 鈥� an evocative mid-20th-century family tragedy inspired by 鈥淗amlet鈥� and set in North Yorkshire (where she lives) 鈥� brings compassion to her portrayal of the Bront毛s鈥� struggles to find their voices and audience. She movingly captures their dismay at repeated rejections from publishers, but also the tight bond and occasional squabbles between them as they sit scribbling together around the parsonage鈥檚 dining table.

Charlotte is the only one to make money from her literary efforts during her lifetime: Her novel 鈥淛ane Eyre鈥� is a huge commercial success when it is first published in 1847 under the pen name Currer Bell. Anne鈥檚 鈥淎gnes Grey鈥� receives little notice, and 鈥淲uthering Heights,鈥� published that same year under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, is lambasted for its shocking, unbridled passion and violence 鈥� yet is also deemed unputdownable.聽

Emily鈥檚 enthusiasm for nature in all its forms comes through in Powell鈥檚 many gorgeous descriptions of the landscape that attracted her narrator in all weather and seasons. In summer, Haworth Moor is 鈥渁 purple, rolling carpet, alive with the hum of bees.鈥� In December, it is 鈥渄un and grey and black against a sky of wintery blue.鈥� In early spring, 鈥淭he leaves of the cherry tree ignited overnight, a whoosh of pink and orange against the grey Yorkshire sky.鈥� 聽

鈥淔ifteen Wild Decembers鈥� will make you appreciate anew Emily Bront毛鈥檚 free spirit and her refusal to write a tame, 鈥渨ell-
mannered鈥� novel.聽