Elizabeth Gaskell’s famous biography, The Life of Charlotte Brontë went a considerable way to creating the myth of the famous writer living up on the moors.

But what of the image of Charlotte’s two groundbreaking literary sisters, Emily and Anne Brontë? How has our view of these trailblazing writers changed over the years?

Emily Brontë’s enduring classic Wuthering Heights makes her the author of one of the finest novels in English language and shows her to be a woman of great passion. What was she like as a person and how was she depicted outside the family? Her sister Anne has been overshadowed by both siblings but her debut novel Agnes Grey and feminist masterpiece The Tennant of Wildfell Hall are now critically acclaimed. Compared with Charlotte, both sisters’ left little behind beyond their work, creating a vacuum others have been happy to fill with their own theories; and this has sometimes obscured our understanding further.

So, what did Elizabeth Gaskell discover about Emily and Anne in her research? How have opinions on their trailblazing works changed over the years and how has our image of them changed? Sue Newby, Education Officer at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, reveals all the answers.

This event is the last in the Charlotte Bronte and Elizabeth Gaskell mini-season, in partnership with the Brontë Parsonage Museum.