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Fifteen Wild Decembers

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Fifteen Wild Decembers

By: Karen Powell
Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
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Isolated from society, Emily Brontë along with her brother and four sisters spend their days inventing elaborate fictional realms or roaming the wild moors above their family home in Yorkshire. When the time comes for them to venture out into the world to earn a living, each of them struggles to adapt, but for Emily the change is catastrophic. Torn from the landscape to which she has become so passionately bound, she is simply unable to function.

To the outside world, Emily Brontë appears taciturn and unexceptional, but beneath the surface her mind is in a creative ferment. A violent phenomenon is about to burst forth that will fuse her imaginary world with the landscape of her beloved Yorkshire and change the literary world forever.

Fifteen Wild Decembers is the dazzling second novel from a writer who has been compared to Shirley Hazzard and Graham Greene, and whose first novel was described as ‘utterly stunning', ‘mesmerizing' and hailed as ‘a masterpiece.'

©2023 Karen Powell (P)2023 W. F. Howes Ltd Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Small Town & Rural
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I wasn’t sure about the book at first but it held my attention to the end but I have a special interest because my great great grandmother lived in the same house as Bramwell at Thornton and he painted her portrait. She briefly met Charlotte.. The reading was a tour de force!

Interest in the subject

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Loved it! A very daring imagining of the world of the Brontë family in 19th century rural England, told from Emily’s perspective. Very compelling listen - narrator was excellent. The desperate plight of even well-educated women seeking their independence is felt in its agonising rawness. No attempts to sweeten this up! Makes me want to pick up Wuthering Heights again and revisit the tragic lives of Heathcliff and Cathy.

Tragic geniuses - the Brontë family

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I did think that Anne didn't feature enough in this novel. Having said that, though, it was an excellent book - really involving. I also want to praise the reader - she did a fantastic job with all the voices, and to be honest I was amazed how well she did Patrick - not just his accent, but the fact that he really sounded male.

An excellent, brilliantly read novel.

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Wonderfully written and narrated. It brought the whole Bronte family to life beautifully. Am sad it's finished!

Evocative of it's time

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Amazing, what can I say! I’ve been to Haworth twice and I feel like I need to go back again because this book gave colour and life to the Brontë’s story in a way that I didn’t get even from intently looking at the artifacts as the parsonage and walking through the streets of Haworth myself. I felt so happy there and reading this book brought so much more depth retrospectively to my memories of Haworth. My only wish (though I don’t know how the author would’ve done it considering Emily was the narrator) is that we could’ve had the rest of Anne and Charlotte’s story in that same colour. Not sure if there’s enough for another book but I long for it!

Loved this book so much!

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