S2:E6 | Modern Brontë Retellings (& About Branwell)

Le Salon Literary Discussions

In this last episode of the series on the Brontës we’re finally looking at brother Branwell and I recommend some novels that interact with the Bronte’s works—from modern retellings to spin offs. You can see Branwell’s painting of his sisters here.

If you haven’t yet read Anne’s novel Agnes Grey, or you’re due for a revisit, sign up for the August 2023 virtual discussion on this book. Click here to sign up and don’t forget to use code podcastlove to get 20% off your ticket to participate in the discussion—it’s better than a book club!

[10:52] “Recent years have opened up a more sympathetic understanding of Branwell, perhaps due to our wider conversations about mental health and addiction.”

[16:10] “It seems there is still a gap to be filled with reference to Anne and her two novels Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall."

[18:26] “Without many female writing role models, the women of the nineteenth century who picked up their pen often had to hide their creative depths in their own personal ‘attics’, maintaining established and expected ideas of femininity on the outside.”

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
• The Life of Charlotte Brontë by Elizabeth Gaskell
• The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë by Daphne du Maurier
• Jamaica Inn; My Cousin Rachel; Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
• Emma by Charlotte Brontë and Another Lady
• Emma Brown by Clare Boyland
• Mr. Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker
• Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye
• The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell
• Nelly Dean by Alison Case
• The Heights by Juliet Bell
• Ill Will and Walk the Invisible by Michael Stewart
• The Mad Women in the Attic by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar

More resources for you:

• Sign up to participate in the virtual discussion on Anne’s Agnes Grey. It's better than a book club.
• Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads.
• Visit my website.