“A novel frees you to imagine, to do the ‘what ifs’ and to fill in the blanks”. These are the words of Tyrone novelist Martina Devlin, whose latest book weaves back and forth through Charlotte Brontë’s life.
Since it was published in 1847, Brontë's groundbreaking novel Jane Eyre has never been out of print and consistently shows up on top 10 lists of favourite novels, alongside her sister Emily’s novel, Wuthering Heights.
It was Devlin’s love of Jane Eyre, coupled with a desire to “emphasise the Irish element” that led her to pen Charlotte: A Novel.
“I don’t think there’s a work of fiction since Jane Eyre that’s made such indominable impressions on readers. It’s still electrifying today,” says the Omagh-born novelist and former journalist.
“I’ve always loved the quote from the novel: ‘I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you.’
“The character of Jane is feisty, outspoken, unconventional, independent and fiercely courageous and I believe she is much like Charlotte herself, who despite her father’s wishes she chose to marry Arthur.”
It was after visiting the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, Yorkshire and later discovering Charlotte’s many connections to Ireland that Devlin delved deeper into researching her life and basing her new novel around her findings.
“I wanted to walk where the sisters walked and see what their eyes saw. I saw many possessions including Charlotte Brontë's dresses, sewing box, beaded moccasin slippers and wedding bonnet. Then I noticed a lot of the windows have window seats and I had this image in my mind that these little girls curled up on the windows reading and telling stories.”
Devlin knew that the two people closest to Charlotte – her father and her husband – were both from the north of Ireland.
Her father was Patrick Brunty, born near Rathfriland, Co Down to a family of farmers, labourers, road builders and significantly storytellers. He went on to Cambridge University – first as a servant and later as a student – and gentrified his surname to Brontë.
“Obviously it sounded fancier, but also he was a big admirer of Admiral Nelson, who had recently been made Duke of Brontë in recognition of a naval battle,” Devlin tells me.
Her husband, Arthur Bell Nicholls, was born in Killead, Co Down. Fostered by his uncle at a young age, he was educated in Banagher, Co Offaly and graduated from Trinity College, Dublin.
However, the writer soon discovered the Irish connection went deeper.
Martina said she was surprised to discover that Charlotte and Arthur went to Ireland for a month on their honeymoon in 1854.
“Even more interesting was the fact that one of the people who met the couple when they arrived in Dublin, and who spent time with them at his former home of Cuba Court, was Mary Bell, Arthur’s first cousin.
“Charlotte was extremely happy with Arthur, but died after only nine months of married life. Arthur stayed on in Yorkshire to look after the elderly Patrick, and returned to Ireland after his death – bringing with him most of the parsonage contents.”
Devlin found it fascinating that Mary went on to become Arthur’s second wife, having known her predecessor, and having to share her home with many of her possessions.
“Portraits, first editions of books, furniture, sketch pads, letters and personal items were all stored in the Banagher house where Arthur made his home. For decades, as the Brontë legend grew, attracting the attention of scholars and collectors, a treasure trove lay undisturbed in the Irish Midlands.”
Observed through the eyes of Mary Nicholls, Charlotte: A Novel is a story of three lives irrevocably intertwined by passion and obsession, friendship and loss, loyalty and deception.
In her foreword, Devlin quotes Danish theologian, philosopher Soren Kierkegaard who said: “Life must be understood backwards; but... it must be lived forwards.”
Writing the book in reverse chronological order, in her enthralling new novel, she transports readers back and forth through Charlotte Brontë’s life, reflecting on the myths built around her by those who knew her, those who thought they knew her, and those who longed to know her.
“The reason I inverted it was because we know how something happened, but we don’t know why. So, when you’re going back you’re trying to explain decisions.”
She “entered a rabbit hole” of research, including visits to The Hill House in Co Offaly and the Brontë Homeland Interpretative Centre in Rathfriland.
“The facts need to be respected, but then the novelist in you must give yourself freedom to think of other possible scenarios when a historical record has nothing to say. You’ve also got a responsibility to deliver readers a story that will keep their interest,” adds Devlin, who holds a PhD in literary practice.
One way she heightened the mystery and intrigue was through penning ‘love letters’ between the couple and bringing Charlotte and Arthur’s honeymoon up north.
“I puzzled over why she spent a month in Ireland and didn’t go to her father’s roots, especially after losing so much of her own family. Then it came to me – it’s a novel, I’ll send her to Co Down,” she enthuses.
“In some ways I’m cheeky in making these Irish claims for Charlotte, but there is a huge Irish angle that has never been explored before and I feel it influenced her life and work.
“She was a storyteller, who is believed to have kept her roommates at boarding school entertained with her ghost stories. You can see a supernatural element, even in Jane Eyre.
“Even her nature was Irish. She was quite passionate and unbridled in her way – not a typical Victorian Miss,” adds Devlin, who unquestionably believes that Charlotte Brontë, had she lived longer, would have gone on to write novels set in and inspired by Ireland.
“She used her own life in all her novels. She understood about being a governess and teacher, like many of her protagonists. She lived in Brussels and features in Villette, and her sister Emily is very much the prototype for the character Shirley in the novel by the same name.”
With interest in the Brontë sisters still high all over the world, Devlin was careful to “negotiate the Brontë myth” of being represented as a tragic family who suffered much loss and who “lived in the back of beyond under the yoke of a tyrannical father”.
“This is unfair back to Howarth, a vibrant community, and to Patrick Brontë. He fostered their education, and he encouraged them to use their minds. In seeking publication, the sisters, but especially Charlotte, were tenacious and resourceful, and this was despite discouragement,” says Devlin, referring to her infamous rejection letter from the Poet Laureate, Robert Southey.
“She sent him a poem and he wrote back and said, ‘literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life’. It was a patriarchal put down, one she ignored,” adds Devlin proudly.
