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

As someone who studied British Literature extensively at university, a comic/manga collector, and a big fan of Charlotte & Anne Brontë, I knew I had to read this little gem! I’m sure many of you are familiar with the Brontë sisters’ most famous works including Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. “Brontë” is a graphic novel that gives a short history of the Brontë sisters’ tragically short lives. The story heavily focuses on why the sisters had to use male pseudonyms, their dysfunctional relationship with their brother, and gives insight into the realities of being a woman writer in 19th century Britain.

In my opinion, the strongest aspect of this graphic novel is its’ historical accuracy. The novel stays true to the real events of the Brontë family’s lives and does a great depicting the sisters’ differing personalities. While the dialogue and artwork was a bit too simplistic for my taste, this is still a good, quick read for Brontë and British Literature fans.

*Review cross-posted on Goodreads & Bookstagram*

The Brontë sisters are perhaps some of the most famous writers ever. Although their books are well known worldwide, I feel like i know little to nothing about them outside of their books.
This graphic novel was informative, while also being super easy to read.
In this story, the Brontë sisters went undercover as men in order to get their writing published.

I really enjoyed this book, and finished it relatively fast! The writing style was super interesting, but was a bit hard to follow in some places.

i would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a read to find out more about the Brontë sisters lives.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

NOTE: I received a free preliminary, and likely unedited copy of this book from Netgalley for the purposes of providing an honest, unbiased review of the material. Thank you to all involved.

“Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë—faced with an ailing father and an alcoholic brother—pursue independence through art in this graphic vision of the lives of three legendary writers.”

Going into this, I sadly did not know much of the Brontë sisters aside from a passing knowledge of how the initially wrote under pseudonyms, ad their untimely deaths due to tuberculosis at relatively the same time. This book did an amazing job filling in the gaps for the most formative time period of their lives – the moment that they decided to start publishing their writings to help save their family. With an ailing father, and a deadbeat brother addicted to both alcohol and opium, the sisters set aside their fears of judgement and finally publish their works to much critical acclaim. It was not until death met their mighty blow, that much of the world found out the true nature of the three writers that took nineteenth century England by storm, and defined that time period for many people in the modern era.

Manuela Santoni has a simple pen drawn art style that was interesting to see. At a few moments, some actions are hard to understand due to this stylistic limitation, but the script is there to cover for it. all-in-all this was a very well-done book and very informative.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review!

The real-life story of the Bronte's has often been romanticized. Three sisters living in Victorian times posed as men in order to publish their novels, and their novels became bestselling successes. Almost everyone knows this story.. In this graphic novel, the story is brought to life with a novel angle: the relationship between the three Bronte sisters and their brother Branwell. Branwell is not often mentioned in stories of the Bronte sisters.
Here, he is depicted as a drunk and an addict, though he does have redeeming qualities. Although Branwell is a focus of this graphic novel, it doesn't detract from the abundance of Girl Power throughout the plot. Emily, Charlotte, and Anne push against the limits of what they are allowed to do as women and constantly defy their marginalized gender roles to do it. I was constantly rooting for them as they got rejected and as they found success. There are plenty of moments that relay the relationships between the sisters. Overall, this graphic novel would be an excellent read for anyone who is a fan of the Bronte sisters' novels. In addition, the art is free-flowing and nice to look at. The ephemeral figures of the women and their dresses contribute to the mystical and fantastical parts of the story. Even though everyone knows the standard story, the connections in this graphic novel are a stunning and welcome addition to the Bronte mythos.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."
The book seemed somewhat bare bones overall, but I think the minimalistic style and gloominess were evocative of the lifestyle of the Bronte sisters.

This is a graphic novel about the Bronte family. I enjoyed learning more about the Bronte family, but I wasn't too sure about the graphics, as they were a bit dark for me. However, the book was still good and the information and story were interesting.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Net Galley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was great, the art style goes well with the story and helps convince the point of the story. It illustrates well this time period. I liked the depiction of the sisters in their writing habits and I think it gives us a lot of information about the Brontë sisters without being too heavy and giving us a hard time. It dissociates them when usually they are seen as one person, we get how individual they are in this novel.

(actual rating: 3.5/5)

I mostly enjoyed this graphic novel detailing a summary of the Brontë sisters. There was more of an emphasis placed on information than on progressive storytelling, which made for something that felt, at times, quite disjointed. The art style decent, if a bit chunky. I enjoyed learning a little bit more about these sisters, and some of that which they struggled through. Overall, it was fairly enjoyable considering how fast a read it was, and I would recommend it to others who would like a cursory look into the Brontë sisters' lives.

"Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte - faced with an ailing father and an alcoholic brother--pursue independence through art in this graphic vision of the lives of three legendary writers.

Despite their family's stormy fortunes, the Bront sisters resolved to write. To thwart the nineteenth century's double standards, they took the names of men, becoming the Bell brothers. Their works incited controversy and speculation, while at home, the sisters contended with the rages of Branwell Bronte, their self-destructive sibling. Manuela Santoni presents a time before Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall were known as literary masterpieces, when winds shook the Bronte house and determination held it together."

I'm a sucker for all things Bronte, especially when the mood captured by the drawings so fits their aesthetic.

I had no idea that was how the Bronte sisters lived and where their inspiration for their stories came from. This was not what I would call a "fun" read but rather an informative one of where the Bronte sisters got their strong will from. After reading this, I want to know more about Charlotte and her older married man, Anne and her love letters, and Emily's relationship with her family. A good way to introduce their life story to someone.

This is a quick graphic novel about the Bronte sisters; unfortunately, I thought it was a bit too quick - the beginning was a bit difficult to follow along with and understand what was happening and who the characters were (particularly the bits with their brother). Overall, I enjoyed the graphic novel and definitely learned about the prolific sisters.

And, the illustrations are gorgeous, dark and a bit haunting.

Well-drawn and told but Bronte family fans will probably find this adaptation to be lacking in depth and understanding about their motivations.

a "just the highlights" graphic biography of the brontë sisters that ultimately leaves the reader dissatisfied.

i wanted to like this book. i was drawn in by the cover and the flowing linework, but as i got into the book itself i began to feel let down. the book reads more as if it is a school project than as a professionally published book. the pacing is choppy, the writing is stilted (though perhaps that can be attributed to the translation), and the layout feels amateurish. the chosen typeface does not mesh well with the art and the layout of the panels feels like an afterthought. Furthermore, the art, while possessing charm, lacks enough range in value that the stark black brushwork ends up feeling muddied.

i was especially disappointed that santoni focused on the most well-known aspect of the brontë sisters – that they used male pseudonyms to publish their works – and used that as the focal point of the book. while i learned a few tidbits, the timeline of their life was unclear until reading the literal timeline at the end, and all of the characters in the book fell flat.

instead of reading the book itself, i would recommend reading the timeline at the end and looking at the pictures.

thank you to netgalley and lerner publishing group – graphic verse for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a cool idea. I really like when people reimagine the classics, and making it into a graphic novel is fun! The pictures aren’t too detailed, though I wish they held a bit more. I was expecting some of them to be in color like the cover, but there weren’t any in color on this copy. Not sure if that’ll change with the published version this comes out in May.
Overall, if you like classics and graphic novels, you’ll probably like this book!

I received an eARC from NetGalley.

I understand that the Bronte sisters were in dire straights; indeed the whole family is. But the opening is so harsh. I have no love or compassion for any of them when it starts with a squabble and quickly descends into jealousy.

Than the drunk brother comes home and it is more squabble.

"We're poor and father is dying; please, help us!"
"Oh no, I am too private!"
(This is my para-phrasing the conversation that happens over several pages.)

Also, why was the art so jagged?

I gave up after the first chapter.

I enjoyed reading about the private lives of 3 famous women authors. I liked that the art was all in black and white but I though some of the character drawings were a little too similar. For example, when the sisters take on the author personas I thought one looked very much similar to Branwell. It was interesting that the end of the story was wrapped up by Branwell and not the women themselves. I would recommend this book to my friends and other librarians but I don't think it would fit well in the small collection at my library.

Than you to NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This story was complex. I really enjoyed seeing more of a fictionalized rendition of the Bronte sisters, but I also felt that this was a little disjointed. I couldn't follow the story well and lost interest halfway through. It drug on and it didn't feel as compelling to me as it was in the first half. For me, there was an issue of pacing with this story.

An enjoyable and thoughtful graphic novel about the Bronte sisters. The black and white artwork is imaginatively done with a lot of patience and research behind the character portraits. The artist's flowing brush strokes are in joyous synchrony with the windy moors of Yorkshire where the Bronte family lived. We see the sisters struggle to make a living for themselves by writing poems to help out their ailing father at a time when women authors were snubbed upon and writing was considered a man's job. Their alcoholic brother Branwell is shown to play an influential role in their lives both as an encouraging brother in their childhood and an absentee carer of the family in their adulthood. We know how the sisters decided to use men's names to publish their work and ultimately met their end too soon. But their works live on and delightfully reproduced today in wonderful graphic formats such as this. I wish more graphic narratives are published depicting the lives of women writers.

This was an okay read for me. It was a quick and easy read, but the timeline felt choppy. I did enjoy the format and felt it was easy to learn some new things, but overall it wasn't anything that blew me away.

I enjoyed this. I read the Bronte Sisters graphic novel recently and wondered how this would be. It’s quite different. I have read works by the Bronte sisters before and knew a bit of the usual information on their family life. This gave me some of that, but it also taught me parts of their stories that I never knew. I liked the black and white art of it as well. Well done. Will recommend to those looking for graphic novel biographies, looking to learn more about any of the Brontes, and those interested in classic literature. Enjoyable read.