biography
This Dark Night
by Deborah Lutz
In her lyrical new biography, Lutz shines light on the most enigmatic of the literary, secluded Brontë sisters: Emily. She was described as introverted, odd, guarded to the point of taciturnity, and her “extreme reserve seemed impenetrable,” said her friend Ellen Nussey. “Except to go to church or take a walk on the hills,” wrote her sister Charlotte, “she rarely crossed the threshold of home.” Lutz writes that Emily was indeed a knotty character of “devilish ferocity,” but she was also informed, engaged, even cosmopolitan in her reading and outlook. Read our review.


