The Brontes in Brussels - Helen MacEwan

'Brussels is my promised land' Charlotte Bront�

A fascinating look at a crucial turning point in the Bront� sisters' lives

In 1842, five years before they would become bestselling authors, Charlotte Bront� and her sister Emily arrived in Brussels. They were there to improve their French and German, but the years they spent in a pensionnat being taught by the charismatic Constantin Heger would do much more than polish their languages. It was a crucial turning point for both their writing and their personal lives. Each came away from Brussels a more mature and capable artist; Charlotte, having fallen lastingly in love with Heger, left with a broken heart and the inspiration for two novels, The Professor and Villette.

Based on the Bront�s' essays and Charlotte's letters and novels, as well as research into the Brussels of the time, this is a fascinating look at a formative period in the lives of two great writers. Tracing the influence of their Brussels years through their writing, MacEwan gives us insight into their artistic formation, and paints a vivid picture of the bustling 19th-century city that opened the sisters' eyes to life beyond Haworth Parsonage.

Helen MacEwan is a translator and educator who lives in Brussels. The founder of the Brussels Bront� Group, she organises talks and guided literary tours focusing on Charlotte and Emily Bront�'s time in the city. She is also the author of Through Belgian Eyes: Charlotte Bront�'s Troubled Brussels Legacy and Winifred G�rin: Biographer of the Bront�s.