The Bedside, Bathtub and Armchair Companion to the Brontes (Paperback)

Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte became literary legends in their own lifetime and their lives continue to fascinate readers today. The revelation that the authors of passionate and controversial novels like "Wuthering Heights" and "Jane Eyre", were the daughters of a curate living on the Yorkshire moors created shockwaves through the Victorian literary world. Today, their novels rank among the most popular works ever written and have inspired numerous adaptations and film versions."The Bedside, Bathtub and Armchair Companion" is the ultimate guide to the remarkable Bronte family and their writing. It reveals new insights into their novels, poems and the imaginative world they created from childhood. It offers a fresh look at their lives, from their early years and schooling, to their first steps into the literary world, their private lives and relationships, their publishing triumphs and disappointments, and, finally, their tragic early deaths. The book covers the Brontes' place in the literary scene; Haworth and the Yorkshire moors as they were in the late nineteenth century and Bronte country today; society and the position of women in Victorian Britain; the Brontes' moral and religious beliefs.Finally, it debunks the myths surrounding the Brontes and explores the burgeoning Bronte industry and the devout fanaticism and romantic obsession that the family inspires around the world. Packed with insight and information and illustrated throughout, "The Bedside, Bathtub and Armchair Companion to the Brontes" is the ideal guide to the Bronte family and their fascinating literary world. "The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companions" are concise, witty, and often unexpected takes on the great authors and other figures who are seemingly all around us, like the air we breathe. Perfect for reading or browsing, for the general reader, for the beginning as well as the advanced student, "The Bedside, Bathtub and Armchair Companions" includes plot summaries (no giveaways for the mystery writers!), biographical information, puzzles, posters, film stills, maps, Web sites, international clubs and societies, and more.Stylish, lavishly illustrated, and imaginatively structured, the "Bedside Companions" currently include volumes on Agatha Christie (more than 400,000 copies sold in two editions), Sherlock Holmes, and Shakespeare. Beginning in spring 2007, future "Bedside Companions" from Continuum International - many by journalists, novelists, and academic authorities (who wear their learning lightly) representing a true "hands-across-the-ocean" approach - are Frankenstein, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury, Dickens, The Brontes, Oscar Wilde, Dracula, and Jane Austen. Some of the volumes will include forewords by renowned figures associated with the respective subjects.