GOD I LOVED THIS. related a little too hard to charlotte for comfort but this is such an incredible work of scholarship… once i got past the early chapters i could not put this down. .25 off because Barker at moments was strangely judgemental & unsympathetic toward Charlotte in a way that I didn’t think was fair. there’s a point where she says it was “mean” of the sisters to not include branwell (at that point very much a drunk) in their poetry project… and then right after Branwell dies  she lambasts charlotte for her “self-pity” and really sort of takes issue with how charlotte grieved. It struck me as so strange and frankly ignorant of the very complicated difficult relationship Charlotte had with Branwell. other than that rly delightful!!!