Fantastic book. Lovers of the Bronte sisters' books will love this story, based on truth. The author writes in a way that sounds just like Charlotte. A vast majority of the storyline is based on fact, and all but two or three of the characters are also based on real people. If you love Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, you will also love this story of the Bronte's lives.

I didn't really know what to expect from this, and I really enjoyed it! I learned so much about the Brontës and James did a great job of capturing the writing style.

Bittersweet. Sometimes read a bit like a Jane Austen novel, which was strange, because that really wasn't the Bronte style. But so interesting to see the whole family story and the publication story, and the love story, all in one place. I'm glad I listened. Also, the narrator is one of my favorite narrators, which is how I found this book.

http://gerberadaisydiaries.blogspot.com/2009/11/book-review-secret-diaries-of-charlotte.html

Charlotte Bronte wrote prolifically – poetry, juvenilia, fantasy stories, letters, novels – some published, some not, some not finished – but we don’t have her diaries. Whether she kept a diary or not we will never know. But thanks to author, Syrie James, we can imagine what it might be like to read Charlotte’s private thoughts.

Through her “diaries” we learn that Charlotte’s suffered greatly – she lost her mother at 5 to cancer; her older sisters both died when she was 9; her brother was an alcoholic; and her remaining sisters, best friends and confidants -- Anne and Emily -- both died within 6 months of each other, before they turned 30. Charlotte and her father were the only surviving members of her family. She was educated at harsh, bleak boarding schools, she studied abroad in Belgium, was determined to start a school with Anne and Emily, only to have it closed because of no applicants and she had an “affair” with her tutor, who would later become her inspiration for her posthumously published novel, The Professor. Finally, Charlotte reveals to us her great romance with curate, A. B. Nicholls, which was nearly ruined because of her father’s disapproval.

This was a delightful novel. I felt Charlotte’s agony at the loss of her family and I shivered with her when she sought solace in the moor landscape of her English home. Ultimately, I cheered her for preserving against the establishment and succeeding in getting her works published (even if she had to publish them under a male pseudonym).

Additionally, I loved the “extras” at the end of the book – where I could read samples of Charlotte’s actual letters and poems. I’ve been inspired to read (and re-read) all of the Bronte sisters’ books!

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte was recently selected as a “great group read” by the Women’s National Book Association. A well deserved honor for Charlotte’s “diary.”

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Anyone who knows me knows I read everything on the Brontes, so I am well versed in their story. I found this book a compelling and engrossing account of their lives. Is every incident true? No. James switches around some incidents and adds some drastic flair, but much of this novel is based on fact. I loved her angle of fleshing out the story of Charlotte and Arthur Bell Nicholls. He was a man I never paid much attention to in Charlotte's life, but James' account of him gives me a new found interest into who he really was. I've been fortunate enough to visit Haworth, the Bronte Parsonage Museum, and hiked the moors behind her home. It was wonderful to revisit those beautiful places in my head.

I am in love with true stories! This novel was so very interesting from mid-beginning to the end. At first I wasn't to sure if I would like it but then I got more into knowing the characters and I was hooked. I learned a lot about Charlotte Bronte, her real life situations..as a woman I found the book very empowering. Charlotte Bronte was radically for her time, as her sister were too. They were after the Jane Austen time but still very radically. I found Emily Bronte's opinion of Jane Austen to very amusing, even though I love Jane Austen's writing. I highly recommend this book to people who enjoy history, English writers, feminist material, romance, hearing how people get through great tribulations. I sure do !

This was a great way to learn about the life of Charlotte Bronte. While fiction, it was thoroughly researched and well written. It is a bit slow at times, but it is a nice love story, and even better because it is real.

I absolutely adored this book. It was a fascinating historically accurate biography of Charlotte Brontë. Her life was so tragic and yet her family used those experiences and turned them into wonderful stories and rich characters like Jane Eyre.