Absolute must for Du Maurier and/or Bronte fans. I've had this on my reading pile for quite a few years and have finally gotten around to reading it. I was spurred on as well by the wonderful book "Daphne" by Justine Picardie which I listened to earlier this year.

This is a biography of Branwell Bronte, brother and only son in the Bronte family of Haworth. Really, it doesn't need any explanation, because they are so famous. Du Maurier writes so well, that it is an easy and informative read, well researched and fascinating. It's interesting to read the Bronte story, but from the perspective of someone more from the sidelines of the three famous sisters, and especially of someone who would have loved to have been just as sucessful. Also perhaps a reflection that it's not just raw talent that brings a successful life, but also some luck and chance. It's easy to look down on people who "fail", fall to addiction, or for whom life doesn't work out, but given the right circumstances, anyone of us could go that way. Also, if you took away the famous sisters, would this be a tale that anyone would remember now, read of, or study at all academic levels? One might say, in his own right, Branwell couldn't stick at anything, failed at every endeavour and left nothing of note behind him (harsh way of putting it, I know). He is remembered because of his sisters. But perhaps it's also that there is a story to be told, and worth to every life, even those who do not become published writers. I find it all so intriguing. I also ponder over this whole Robinson affair that was supposedly the final downfall of Branwell. Was it the mother or the daughter Lydia that really caused the trouble for him? Or perhaps neither? Was that just a fantasy tied in with his alter ego world, and it ended up being a lie he felt forced to embellish and continue with, for telling the truth that it was all just in his head was far worse? I'm left pondering on a great many things.