BleakChesneyWold

                                     Poem published 7th May 1842 in the 'Leeds Intelligencer'                                        Lucasta Miller referred to Mrs Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Bront ë  and the shaping of the Bront ë s's reputation in the following terms : " The legend it laid down-three lonely sisters playing out their tragic destiny on top of a windswept moor with a mad misanthrope father and doomed brother". MILLER Whilst in the guide to The Bront ë s, 'The Brontethaurus', John Sutherland stated "My brilliant boy', Patrick (Bront ë ) called his only son Branwell. Brilliant, but doomed. Before terminally incapacitated by drink, drugs, self pity, and sexual incontinence". SUTHERLAND  Of course the overall Bront ë  'legend' is open to a challenge. Jus...

               'The Gothic Tales of Mary Elizabeth Braddon' This 2014 collection was edited with an introduction by Greg Buzwell, as part of the British Library 'Tales of the Weird' series, and contains fourteen short stories that originally appeared in various periodicals from 1860-1907. Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915) is still most known for one of her first published novel  Lady Audley's Secret (1862), which  made a vital contribution to the 'Sensation novels' genre,was extremely popular and arguably has overshadowed, her huge body of work: Some 90 novels, countless short stories, not  always submitted to magazines in her own name. Braddon scholars are still trying to trace all her work,quite a formidable task. CARNELL & ASSOCIATION 'Sensation novels' tend to emphasise frightful human behaviour, scandal, far fetched coincidence, often with an amateur detective, and crumbling country house, preferably a mansion.But not afra...