These are not my Brontës, but I must begin with saying that I loved this novel and feel like I’ve stumbled on a kindred spirit at a point when such experiences are rare and startling. Stephanie Cowell has not only the skill to write a clear, sharp historical novel as neat and intricate as origami, she also has a rarer thing: the knowledge of her subject – the Brontë family – to make every liberty she takes with biography succeed as credible and seamless with truth. The Man in the Stone Cottage gives us Emily Brontë at its heart, with Charlotte, Branwell, and Anne there as satellites orbiting a strange and vivid story that knits well with the available biography of the sisters.
I began reading this walking home from work because I couldn’t be fussed to hurry on an evening full of wind and machinarium sky. I leaned against a railing and read for five minutes, lost track of time, got a phone call, and startled to see it had been half an hour, I walked on. At home while I cooked, did the evening things, I read. The Man in the Stone Cottage is that kind of book.
It hasn’t had the flame edited out; it’s a quiet book that remains like a scent on the air in the head’s house. I first found the Brontës as a small, plain child who adored large, sometimes ugly novels. I am now an aged plain theydy who has spent almost half a century rereading the novels and reading every Brontë-adjacent thing I can find. I had no idea I would find Cowell’s book: there isn’t fanfare or online hype that I’ve seen, and the title and cover are unobtrusive. But I feel fortunate to have stumbled on the advance copy of this book and recommend it with enthusiasm and not a single reservation. Read on for what I liked and what I questioned.
My only real quibble is the usual one: Charlotte gets the treatment: as usual in Brontë fictions, she is the killjoy; Emily is the ethereal androgyne, the thin wire-of-fire. Luckily I expect this from all such novels and can set it aside the way one sets aside other mildly irritant tropes (see secondary character given name patterns in Jane Austen fan fiction).
The story, though: taking a story we know and giving it angles and nuances and settling just a little romance (for surely there must have been) on Emily works so well even when the writer doesn’t write as well as Cowell. Here’s the thing, though: Cowell can write. Her sentences are clear, precise, and sometimes lyrical. It was an absolute surprise to come across dialogue in a historical novel that didn’t once make me cringe hard enough to startle the cats. There was none of the assault by adverbs I have come to dread in similar works. There wasn’t the showy pretentiousness I anticipate, either – unlike the last two similar Brontë stories I read, this was never coy or selfish or… up itself.
I won’t spoil the story where it moves – skillful and wistful storytelling – from biography to fiction, but I was engaged and impressed, and finished the book with the feeling one has finishing a puzzle or a craft.
I hope Stephanie Cowell keeps writing similar books – I was less than halfway through The Man in the Stone Cottage when I added her name to my search-for list. This book gets all the stars, and I exhort you to read it. It belongs on the shelf with other excellent and absorptive historical fiction like Jo Baker’s Longbourn and Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace.
I received an advance copy of The Man in the Stone Cottage by Stephanie Cowell from NetGalley in exchange for this honest review.

I received a free ARC ebook of <i>The Man in the Stone Cottage</i> from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
The lives of the Brontes have been portrayed in numerous books, both fiction and nonfiction. This entry begins about 1846, when Charlotte has returned home from Brussels, brooding over her doomed love for a married man. Anne and Branwell are working as tutors while Emily is at home with her father, Patrick, a local minister. Their mother and two older sisters are already deceased. Their financial lives are tenuous at best, and all fear what will happen if Patrick completely loses his eyesight and his position. They would lose their leaky, drafty home and would have no resources.
Cowell does a wonderful job fleshing out the individual characters of the Brontes in this novel that is revealed through Charlotte and Emily's viewpoints. Patrick is overly optimistic about God providing and does nothing to ameliorate his grown children's fears. He spends hours in his study while his children fret and is more of a background character who is revered by his children. Charlotte, the eldest surviving sibling, is the planner, consumed with rescuing her family from what she views as inevitable disaster. Emily is a bit of a lost soul; she is a wanderer on the moors, distrustful of anyone outside her family. Branwell, the only male sibling, is viewed as their hero who will solve all their problems once he gets settled and actually chooses a path. Anne, the youngest, is Charlotte's willing companion in Charlotte's endeavors to save the family from ruin. All of the siblings adore each other, but Charlotte does lose patience with Branwell's drinking and lack of focus and commitment.
All of them have secrets. Their writings are private, and Emily is the most unwilling to share. Charlotte's endeavors to get their poetry and novels published to secure a financial future means she first must convince her siblings. Branwell, their expected hero, is left out since his drinking is problematic. Writing under male pseudonyms, the Bronte sisters become published authors with Charlotte's <i>Jane Eyre</i> a literary sensation. But the Brontes' lives are filled with loss and pain.
The title is a bit confusing for me. Yes, there is a man in a stone cottage who no one sees other than Emily. He greatly impacts Emily's life, and perhaps he is the motivation for her character, Heathcliff. The setting of the isolated village and the desolate moors has more of an effect on the characters. Loneliness permeates these characters.
Reading this wonderful novel will result in me rereading the Brontes' writing.

Both lyrical and gothic, the reader follows Emily and Charlotte Bronte as they try to navigate life. The ups, the downs, the hardships and the happiness. Using both fact and fiction, the reader is transported back in time to see how and why the Bronte sisters became authors. With a deep sense of family loyalty the sisters do everything they can to make sure their father is taken care of. Is the man in the stone cottage real? Is he the inspiration for Heathcliff? Beautiful writing style. Beautiful descriptions. Thank you NetGalley for a copy.

The man in the stone cottage seamlessly blends historical fact with fiction. Cowell manages to create a haunting and often heart-breaking reality to the lives of these brave young women, who wrote so beautifully buy died so young.

Offering us a scenario that informed Emily in her writing of Wuthering Heights, and inspired her character, Heathcliff. She meets a man whilst out walking on the moors, growing a friendship and visiting him at his cottage, but keeping him secret from the rest of her family. His existence is only uncovered by Charlotte after Emily’s death. The book also explores Charlotte’s heart break and rejection, their brothers struggles and the ailing health of their father.

This book is stunning, you can feel the isolation and bleakness of the West Yorkshire countryside, damp streets of Howarth and the contrasting bustle of London. The love felt between the siblings and their father is palpable, and whilst the ending was no surprise, it was no less tragic.

The Man in the Stone Cottage definitely had the atmospheric feel of the Brontës to it. This historical fiction book was told in alternating voices from Emily and Charlotte predominantly. I’m not sure if the “man” was fictional or based upon a real person, but it added interest to the story. Although he was a smaller part of the book than I had expected. I was interested in getting more of a feel and a differentiation between the sisters and their works and this book helped me to do that, as well as covering somewhat their brother Bramwell and their vicar father.

Ms, Cowell gave great descriptions of the Yorkshire countryside. There was not a great deal of joy in this book but that seems to be consistent with other things I had heard about the family. I’d recommend this for fans of the work of Emily, Anne, or Charlotte. Or anyone wanting to get more of a feel for their lives.

#NetGalley #TheManintheStoneCottage

I absolutely loved The Man in the Stone Cottage. It was as if a Bronte sister wrote it. This is a historical fiction about the famous sister. Equal parts whimsical and tragic. I loved this including the Authors acknowledgements at the end. Very well written and obviously well researched. The life of sisters so different but also so bonded by duty, experiences and a gift for writing.

With nothing but time over the next week, I wanted to start reading a few books. I started this one yesterday and stayed up until I completely finished it. I could not put it down.
Each family member has their own personality. The aging Rev Patrick who is struggling to hold on to his parish with his declining eyesight and refusal to accept any outside help. Branwell the son who should be helping support the family but causes nothing but heartache. Emily the introvert who could care less about publishing. Anne who wants to help her family in any way she can and looking to be published. Charlotte the eldest living daughter trying to hold it together and keep the family together by sacrificing her happiness.
This book has me wanting to learn more of the Bronte family.
The heartbreak, trials and deaths throughout the book keep you wanting for more.

The Brontë siblings struggle to support themselves and their family. While Anne and Bramwell work as teachers for a wealthy family, Emily and Charlotte look after their father and their home. Emily has been taking walks on the moor since childhood. During one of her walks, she meets a man who lives alone in a stone cottage on the moor. After Emily's death, Charlotte tries to find out who he was and what role he played in her sister's life.

I really like the book's mix of fact and fiction. What I appreciate most is that the facts were given the most space and then spiced up with Emily's story. Of course, it's hard to know exactly what the sisters were thinking and feeling at the time, but the story feels as if it could have happened.

I'm a little dissatisfied with the ending. Maybe because my personal interpretation of what happened didn't feel right. The "right" answer isn't entirely clear. As a whole, I like the book a lot. It was a nice evening read before bed.

Award-winning author Stephanie Cowell has done it again: taking a classical and beloved subject and reinvigorating it with innovative mystery. Lovers of the Brontës’ passionate writings have long-wondered how a reclusive and virginal woman like Emily Brontë could create such a complex man as Heathcliff and a tortured love affair as she did in “Wuthering Heights”. Was there something more to Emily than the public and/or literary sleuths discovered? Stephanie Cowell bravely tackles this question by presenting an intriguing explanation: Emily had a secret love interest in the form of a Scottish stranger who lives in an isolated stone cottage a long hike from the Brontë parsonage in the English countryside. Cowell infuses this intriguing love story amid the comings and goings of the fascinating Brontës, by alternating the point of view between Emily and her older sister, Charlotte. The characters come achingly alive in seemingly effortless prose, and their tragedies remind us of the utter waste of such promising and creative young people. The bonus to this profound story is the depiction of the women’s making of a novel: the compulsive drive, the imagined conversations, the constant rejections, the grief at the loss of the world once finished, plus the dazed aftermath of disbelief that your compulsive work is finally published. Brontë aficionados and those who are new to this amazing family will love this wondrous book. I highly recommend it.

"The Man in the Stone Cottage," by Stephanie Cowell is a historical fiction novel based on the lives of the Bronte sisters. Told from both Emily and Charlotte's perspective, the novel begins shortly after Charlotte returns home from Brussels to Haworth, England in December 1843. The Bronte sisters, Anne, Emily and Charlotte, along with their brother, Branwell, are all talented writers who have been dreaming up stories since their childhood. Their father, Patrick Bronte is the town pastor and patriarch of the family. Though the family has a modest income, Charlotte is especially worried about how to support the family if and when their father is replaced by a new pastor.

The novel delves into the lives of each Bronte sibling - Branwell’s struggle to find a fulfilling career, Anne’s role as the peacekeeper, Emily’s guarded personality and Charlotte’s fears of the family losing everything they have. Emily has a penchant for wandering on the moors and in so doing meets a mysterious and intriguing man she’s instantly drawn to. He is the man in the stone cottage, Emily’s secret, one she only ever shares with one sibling. Charlotte decides that their writings from over the years will be the ticket to their security. Their two works of art, “Jane Eyre” and “Wuthering Heights,” become the products of this decision.

This novel is extremely well researched and a very enjoyable read. The beginning was a little slow for me to get into, but as the plot got going, it was difficult for me to put down. I chose to read this because “Jane Eyre” is one of my favorite novels. Though this novel is historical fiction, it was fascinating to learn so much more about Charlotte and Emily. I had no idea the extent of their family and the circumstances surrounding the creation of two novels that would become so well-loved and popular that they are still widely read almost 200 years later.

I would highly recommend this novel to anyone that loves classic literature and loves Charlotte or Emily Bronte.

I received this eARC from Netgalley, because I liked the synopsis!
This book was actually very interesting and entertaining to read, exploring the devotion between sisters, and the secrets that can be kept between them or from each of them.
I couldn’t resist picking it up and I do not regret that, the story is almost accurate to history, but it’s very colorful And elegant.
This book was heartwarming, heartbreaking and extremely enjoyable all at the same time, I very much recommend it to anyone interested in historical fiction, female authors throughout history, and the Brontë sisters.

This historical fiction novel takes us into the world of the Brontë sisters. The sisters faces love and loss on their path to becoming famous writers.

I really enjoyed this. The writing was beautiful and it felt like a very realistic imagining of the Brontë sisters lives. I thought that Charlotte and Emily had beautiful well fleshed out storylines. I did wish we got to know a bit more about Anne though. I also had a bit of a hard time getting into the story at the beginning but once it picked up I had a hard time putting it down. A must read if you are a fan of the Brontë sisters writing!

Thank you to NetGalley and Regal House Publishing for the advanced copy.

The Man in the Stone Cottage is a brilliant imagining of the lives of the Bronte sisters. Concerning Emily, shy and wild wanderer of the moors, the book asks: did she have a secret lover who she met in her wanderings? I enjoyed the speculative portion of the story. Surely Emily met someone on the moors, if only in her dreaming mind. Charlotte's well of creativity was firmly grounded in the earth of poverty and romantic heartbreak and the struggles to keep her family fed. Anne's success as a writer wasn't as great as that of her sisters; I wish she was more developed in the book although it's true we know little about her. This book was a thoroughly enjoyable read! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.