It is the work of a biographer to present the details of one's life in a way that encompasses the complexity of personhood. To provide an accurate picture a person has to throw away biases and wishful thinking to see a person as they really were, and then use whatever faculties they have at their disposal to display that person in as clear and accurate a light as possible. Juliet Barker, with a painstakingly sourced book on the Brontes, comes as close as possible to providing a clear cut and comprehensive picture of the Brontes - at least as comprehensive as possible given their relatively private tendencies.

I have read four biographies on the Brontes this month, though none of them compared at all in length to this one, and Juliet Barker seems to have her finger on the pulse of who the Brontes were as people a bit more steadily than the other authors I have read from. I learned so much from this book that I hadn't known, not just about the sisters themselves, but also about their extended family and the community at large. When this book says that it is about the Brontes, it is about all of them including Patrick Bronte who died several years after his children. Unlike other biographies, this one doesn't leave off after Charlotte dies. It follows her father through his remaining years, and while I must confess that it didn't interest me as much as it might have if I hadn't just finished reading three other biographies in the same month, there is something to be said about that level of thoroughness.

Something interesting to note is the way Lucasta Miller's The Bronte Myth, another five star biography that I read earlier this month, is in many ways a direct answer to Juliet Barker's chunky work. I read The Bronte Myth first, so I was given a steady dose of Charlotte love right from the jump. Lucasta Miller has great affection for Charlotte Bronte; it is clear in her writing and therefore her biography of the sisters reads as a defense of Charlotte. Juliet Barker's portrayal of the sisters tries to be fair and impartial, but it is incredibly obvious in her writing that Barker views Charlotte's behavior and personality to be the least of the bunch. Having read both versions of the same stories, having seen the perspectives of both authors and the evidence both have used to support their own claims for the reality of Charlotte's character, I feel like I have a solid understanding of who she was.

I was surprised by my affection for Charlotte after reading The Bronte Myth, because I went into it expecting to hate her. I held a grudge against her for her treatment of the best Bronte, Anne, and her public criticism of Anne's work. The Brontes: Wild Genius on the Moors reignited some of those old irritations with Charlotte, but I think that Juliet Barker does an excellent job of trying to steer the reader toward a place of understanding. While Lucasta Miller goes all out with her bias for Charlotte, presenting her as a heroic defender of her sisters' memory and a stifled genius, Juliet Barker tries to rein in her own feelings about Charlotte. In passages where she does let her own opinions slip, she is quick to backtrack to a place of neutrality. For that reason, as well as the abundance of sources and footnotes, this is the superior biography.

Over the past month, reading all of the Brontes work in the context of their real lives, I have developed such a profound affection for the sisters, and The Brontes: Wild Genius on the Moors did nothing but add to that affection. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Juliet Barker's treatment of the deaths of the siblings brought tears to my eyes. Her inclusion of letters, poems, quotes, and anecdotes throughout the entirety of her factual story telling makes the book so personal. To read Anne's poetry, written immediately before her death, and see the fears that she hid from her sister; to hear of Emily's stern lack of empathy for her own condition and Branwell's descent into what was undoubtedly psychosis, or very near it, made everything that much more emotional. Reading Charlotte's lonely, mournful letters describing her own feelings after the death of her siblings was just the icing on the cake. To see the complicated relationships between siblings given such a delicate treatment was amazing.

I highly recommend this book to anybody that wants a comprehensive deep dive into the Brontes. By no means the only way to learn about them, this is by far the most comprehensive text that I've ever found. Wonderfully done.