Main content
This programme is not currently available on 麻豆官网首页入口 iPlayer

Being the Brontes

Martha Kearney, novelist Helen Oyeyemi and journalist Lucy Mangan travel to Haworth Parsonage, the home of Charlotte and her sisters Emily and Anne.

To mark the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Bronte's birth, Martha Kearney, novelist Helen Oyeyemi and journalist Lucy Mangan travel to Haworth Parsonage, the home of Charlotte and her sisters Emily and Anne, to discover the inspiration behind their classic novels Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey.

Just two years before the books were published, prospects for the three unmarried sisters were bleak. Their brother was battling alcoholism, Charlotte was hopelessly in love with a married man and their father was going blind. But by 1848 they were a literary sensation. To find out how this extraordinary turnaround happened, Martha, Lucy and Helen each immerse themselves in the life of a Bronte sister. From everyday routines at the Parsonage to walks on windswept moors, from harsh schooldays to misadventures as governesses, the trio learn how the Brontes combined literary genius with real-life experience to create some of the best-loved novels in the English language.

59 minutes

Last on

Mon 13 Jan 2020 00:20

Music Played

  • Agnes Obel

    Aventine

  • Goldfrapp

    Alvar

  • Agnes Obel

    Dorian

  • Florence + The Machine

    Seven Devils

  • Julia Kent

    Tourbillon

  • Dustin O'Halloran, Maurizio Borgna

    Snow + Light

  • Agnes Obel

    Fuel To Fire

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Martha Kearney
Presenter Lucy Mangan
Presenter Helen Oyeyemi
Producer Linda Sands
Director Linda Sands
Series Producer John Das

Broadcasts

Meet the presenters

Find out more about the presenters of Being the Brontes