With a masterful hand, Bella Ellis combines the best aspects of historical fiction, who-done-it mysteries, and women’s literature to create a suspenseful, emotional, funny, and heartfelt novel in The Vanished Bride.
Imagining Charlotte, Anne, and Emily Brontë as “detectors” in conjunction with their writings, The Vanished Bride sees the sisters work together (along with their brother Branwell) to try and solve a strange disappearance of a young bride who lives nearby. The sisters are friends with the governess in the home of the missing woman and they use this as their entrance into the case. Soon discovering that the wealth of the man of the house is keeping the constables and any other type of law enforcement away, the Brontë’s sink their teeth into the mystery, and are off on an amazing adventure that is a joy to follow.
Ellis herself describes a life-long love affair with the Brontë sisters, and that is demonstrably clear throughout this novel. She does an excellent job of presenting each sister as her own unique person. For a “Brontë-novice” like myself, it takes very few pages before their separate, distinct characters become clear.
Anne is sweet and kind, clearly demonstrating how her emotions lead her, and she is dearly loved by most everyone she meets. Charlotte is the one in charge. She is an excellent peace-maker when the siblings are all working together, and does a great job of maintaining balance. Emily is impulsive and follows her mind (in a way that was unheard of for women in the 1840’s).
Emily is easily my favourite, and while Charlotte seems “in charge” of the siblings, Emily is the one leading the way, and pushing them out of their comfort zones. Her confidence, pluck, and sass are clearly visible throughout the novel, but my favourite passage sums her up perfectly.
“Although Emily had never before broken into the manor house of a suspected murderer in the dead of night, it didn’t occur to her once that this wasn’t something she wouldn’t be perfectly good at.”
The character of each sister shines in her own way, and that help push the feminist ideas presented throughout the story in a perfectly palatable manner. The reader may or may not realise he or she is getting a heaping portion of feminism, delivered in exactly the right way. These women are strong, and while they (mostly) follow the societal rules for woman in that time, their frank discussions of such things make the reader realise how much things have changed while simultaneously realising how much still needs to change.
I enjoyed the way Ellis paired different siblings up throughout the story as they went about trying to accomplish different parts of their mission. Sometimes Emily rode to town with Branwell, another times she might find clues by herself, and still other times she went to talk to a potential witness with Charlotte and Anne. On occasion, Charlotte may be paired with Branwell, or she might be working with Anne. The changing and rearranging of the characters, so that we could see these different interactions, both helped the reader learn even more about each sibling, and it also helped keep the story moving forward. It often reminded me of how good television shows will mix up which characters spend time together, and it always helps keep things fresh and interesting.
While the mystery is engaging and well told, it is the social commentary liberally sprinkled throughout that has stayed with me. The author’s note at the end of the book (no spoilers, I promise) reflects on her reasoning behind the creation of this story, and as someone who had honestly never read much of anything by the Brontë sisters, it really spoke to me. Anyone reading this book has lived his or her entire life in a world where both men and women have become writers, often to great acclaim. It is incredibly difficult to imagine the world in the time of the Brontë’s. The very fact that they desired a life as rich and fulfilling as their male counterparts was almost unheard of. It was ground-breaking in their day just to want, and speak to, the desire for something so fundamental now. Focusing on the “historical” part of this tale of historical fiction, these were remarkable women and their bravery needs to be understood, remembered, and celebrated.
I enjoyed this book immensely and I truly hope Bella Ellis continues to write more Brontë Sisters mysteries.
The Vanished Bride is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Before they became legendary writers, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, and Anne Brontë were detectors in this charming historical mystery…
Yorkshire, 1845. A young wife and mother has gone missing from her home, leaving behind two small children and a large pool of blood. Just a few miles away, a humble parson’s daughters–the Brontë sisters–learn of the crime. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë are horrified and intrigued by the mysterious disappearance.
These three creative, energetic, and resourceful women quickly realize that they have all the skills required to make for excellent “lady detectors.” Not yet published novelists, they have well-honed imaginations and are expert readers. And, as Charlotte remarks, “detecting is reading between the lines–it’s seeing what is not there.”
As they investigate, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne are confronted with a society that believes a woman’s place is in the home, not scouring the countryside looking for clues. But nothing will stop the sisters from discovering what happened to the vanished bride, even as they find their own lives are in great peril…
