I've always been curious about the Bronte sisters. Having not read any of the works that have since made them famous, Manuela Santoni's Bronte seemed like a good place to start. I was ultimately disappointed to find that this book gave troubled brother Branwell Bronte center stage, with Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte reduced to flat, two-dimensional background roles. The Bronte sisters were forced to write under male pen names in order to pursue their creative passions and literary dreams. To write a book about them that focuses primarily on the actions of their brother seems counterintuitive and tone-deaf. To me, while the art style was striking and helped me differentiate between the characters, the font choice (specifically, the choice to type the dialogue over hand-drawn speech bubbles) was a little jarring. However, I did like the mixture of single-panel pages and full-dialogue pages. Manuela Santoni is clearly a talented artist who would be better suited to working with original subject matter.

Wonderful graphic novel about the Bronte sisters. It's a short and easily readable narrative of the three sisters and their path to producing their most famous works. It's a brief glance into their lives, but a great introductory into the figures who wrote some great classics that we know today as Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Shirley, etc. Highly recommend to have in an English classroom, and suitable to middle school and high school students.

This is a short graphic novel that tells us a little bit about the Brontë sisters’ life and how they started publishing. It’s good if you don’t have any idea about who they were, as it gives you a nice introduction to them. I would prefer a different art style, as I think it would make the graphic novel a bit better and it would deliver the story in a different way. Overall it is a good introduction to these fascinating women and it leaves you with a curiosity to know more about them and their lives!

This English translation of Manuela Santoni's Brontë is a simple, sweet introduction to the Brontë sisters' complicated lives. As an English major, I studied the sisters and their work in more than one class, learning about their troubled, alcoholic brother, their sickly father, and their own muddied relationships to that thing they were so passionate about: writing.

As children, the Brontës wrote tiny books, smaller than the palm of my hand, the handwriting so minute you need a magnifying glass to read it. I know this because I had the chance to read Charlotte Brontë's original tiny manuscript for "Albion and Marina" in the special collections library at my college. It was magical, to see and read and learn about this book that is almost 200 years old.

Santoni's graphic novel captures three lives in the simple strokes of a brush. It's definitely reduced in this format, lacking the nuance to be truly real, but it is easy to digest and she manages to give all her characters their own storylines and personalities and conflicts. Although I'd recommend true Brontë lovers learn about Charlotte, Emily and Anne's lives in deeper, more substantial ways, Brontë the graphic novel is definitely a good place to start.

Thank you to Manuela Santoni, the publishers, and NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a quick read that takes you into the life of the bronte sisters. I didn’t like that it focused on the brother a lot, but the illustrations were good.

This graphic novel imagines the lives of the Brontes. There are the father, the somewhat dissolute brother, Branwell and of course, those three sisters, Anne, Charlotte and Emily. The sister’s relationships and their writing lives are depicted here. Much attention is also given to Branwell and his impact on his siblings. The illustrations are all in black and white and evoke the lives and times of the family. Those looking to learn more about this family and those who could enjoy a new take on those they already know may enjoy this title.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

I liked this graphic novel. i didn’t know about the brontës’ lives that much, so this was a good insight. i also LOVED the ending...
my only real problem ( which had a massive impact on the rating) was how the sisters were portrayed. they were portrayed as horrible, arrogant people who just wanted and wanted and whined all the time. In my opinion, they were passionate women, who wanted to be treated equally to men and have their novels/writing published for the world to see and enjoy without the complications of gender,
anyway, i do recommend this for a nice quick read, but keep the “personality” thing in mind.

Simple illustration style that tells you a bit of the lives of the Brontë sisters during their publishing years. A quick and simple read for anyone to get introduced to the Brontë sisters/Bell brothers. Not sure how much creative liberty was taken with the people and historical moments portrayed, as I am not a connoisseur.
Good but didn't leave me over the moon

*Thank you Netgalley and Lerner Publishing Group for providing this digital eARC in exchange for an honest review*

I loved this- conditions apply. The whole book is conceptualised to keep you hooked and the art is sublime. Trigger warnings for addiction and losing a loved one, and I'm not happy with the portrayal of addiction- but I suppose it's the sign of the times. There's actually some morality imposed by the author on the story but I have to admit that it gives the story and characters more authentic (? ) flavour.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with the e-ARC of Brontë in exchange for an honest review.

This was an enjoyable graphic novel with a nice art style. I felt the art style fit the story very well. It was informative about the Bronte sisters. The story was occasionally confusing as it only showcased the biggest events and left me wanting more. It’s a quick read, which is one of its strengths. I don’t regret reading this to pass the time but I doubt it will stick with me.

This was really disappointing. I was expecting a book about the Brontë sisters, but this graphic novel was weirdly centered on their brother, Branwell. In the beg/end it even switches to his POV, which doesn’t make logical sense and would have worked better with an omniscient narrator.

None of the characters were likable. Almost everything was cast in a negative light, told in a blunt, angry tone. It made the whole story off-putting. This mood wasn’t helped by the art style which was very dark in itself and somewhat juvenile. I don’t think the black and white worked in this case. It was too severe.

We are told the sisters are close and their publishing journey is about them doing it together, but every interaction we get is hostile. It seems all anyone ever feels is malice. It was kind of exhausting.

Additionally, it lacked a focus. It sped by but not in a good way. I don’t feel I got a lot of value about the Brontë sister’s lives or their writing journeys from this graphic novel.

3 Stars (I received an e-arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

I know a little bit about the Bronte’s so I am not entirely familiar with their history but it seemed to be a good representation. The art style is not my favourite a little bit thick and sloppy looking, but the storytelling definitely makes up for it. Branwell is also the worst and way too entitled with his place as a man in Victorian England. Also included in the back of the book is a timeline of the three Bronte sisters life, which was interesting since I wasn’t aware that there was other Bronte siblings than the sisters and Branwell. Also I was surprised at how close together the siblings passed away.

🌼 Bronte was written and illustrated by Manuela Santoni in Italian in 2018 and translated into English by Matteo Benassi in 2021.
🌼 Before reading this book, I didn't have much knowledge about Bronte Sisters. This book helped me to have a bit of understanding about them.
🌼 The illustrations were confusing at first but I got used to them after few pages.
🌼 Transition effects in various scenes is very intresting.Story is told from the perspective of their brother. Who plays a role of villain in their life.
🌼 It was such a good book which helped me understand the sisters that too in a fun way. It was such a sad thing that they all died so young.
🌼 From the elegant cover to a well-executed storyline it was a very enjoyable read.
I thank the Publisher and Netgalley for providing me a copy of the book.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity of reading the arc of this short yet complete and awesome graphic novel. When I started it I had a little of a hard time with the drawings because they make me difficult to understand, but nonetheless I shortly found myself so fond of the characters and the story that I almost forgot. The characters were SO beautifully represented, what I was referring to before was about the background (but only sometimes don’t get me wrong please).
In summary, it was a very entertaining novel and the author very well represented their lives. I like that she mentioned at the end (after a very clear chronological line that I absolutely loved) that there were two more women who helped her with those datas and thanked them. I also loved that she thanked the comic books for being the beauty that saves us from the ugliness of this world. I think that too. 🥰❤️

Absolutely recommend it! Im now waiting to read more of her and I’ll look definitively for the other novel of hers, that of Jane Austen.

This graphic novel begins when the Bronte sisters have returned from Belgium after completing their additional education. Charlotte convinces her sisters to try publishing a volume of their poetry together. Their brother, Branwell, is an alcoholic and opium addict, and their father, Patrick, is becoming more and more ill and weak. The sisters try to make some money with their writing to help support the family.

The story takes extreme liberties with the historical facts, to the point where very little of their real lives is actually reflected in the book. I also hated the way that the sisters' personalities were represented. They are written as being foul-mouthed, belligerent, and anti-social; and that is presented to the reader as their "passion" when really they are just rude and mean in this book.

Nothing about their charitable work with their father's parishioners is mentioned, nothing about their many visits with their close friends, and nothing about their strong Christian faith. Instead they are presented as being completely self-serving and isolated.

I find it difficult to believe that a minister's daughters would act so selfishly and rudely to one another even in the privacy of their own home. Nothing in any part of their actual history even hints at this kind of behavior, and I found it very distasteful.

I think it's odd that so much of the book focuses on Branwell and his addictions. He is violent towards his father and sisters, and Emily retaliates verbally with the most vindictive dialogue. There seems to be no room for patience or compassion in this book.

I just can't stand the way that the actual history that we know about the Bronte family has been completely ignored. I guess you could say that it is a "reimagining" or a "fictionalized account", but even with that excuse, it is a reimagining for the worse. If you wanted to draw out all the darkest parts of someone's life and then exaggerate them into a mess of sins and misdeeds, and ignore anything good that they may have done, that would be this book.

The artwork is not that great. The pen and ink style is not attractive. Some panels look like the illustrator purposefully made it ugly to add to the drama and darkness of the story.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

An interesting and quick-paced read about the Bronte sisters and their quest to find freedom through their creative work. A bit uneven of a story, but I definitely learned more about the Bronte sisters!

(Thank you, NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group, for the Advanced Review Copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.)

Bronte was written and illustrated by Manuela Santoni in Italian in 2018 and translated into English by Matteo Benassi in 2021. In it, the family structure and relationships that produced the well-known literary works are revealed.

Strengths: The turmoil that defines the Bronte household is depicted with a tense immediacy that will interest and engage readers, especially younger ones. Also, the artwork has emotion and movement, evoking images from Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre, especially in their most gothic, darkly frantic moments.

Weaknesses: The text feels as if it loses something in translation. It comes across as simplistic and choppy, too lean. While the afterward information helps to fill in some of the blanks, a work about the family that has had so much impact on British and American literature would be stronger if it were more robust and rounded out, possibly expanded to a multi-volume set.

Thank you to the author, the translator, Graphic Universe, and NetGalley for an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a beautiful graphic novel that really brought you into the Bronte world. The artwork is lovely and the writing was great. It didn't feel forced at all, it made it a quick read.

I always get fascinated when I hear about Bronte sisters. I am still to read their works but I am aware of their tragic but still fruitful life.
There would not be a better book to present their life in a very emotional and clear way.
Artwork is wonderfully gelled with the background and circumstances. Transition effects in various scenes is very intresting.
Story is told from the perspective of their brother. Who plays a role of villain in their life.
A very good graphic novel.

Following in the great authors series, this graphic novel captures the lives of the Bronte sisters. The girls lost two sisters and their mother leaving them with an ailing father and an opium, alcohol loving brother.
All three sisters loved writing but their original focus was poetry. After being rejected, by publishers, they were told to write novels. This led to their well known works.

The Illustrations are beautiful. It was interesting to remember the challenges they faced in their lives.