What Tangled Webs We Weave...
The Bronte Plot focuses on Lily Alling, and her life altering trip to England.
Lily is an antique book seller and collector who has just been caught forging inscriptions into the books she is selling. It is none other than her new boyfriend James who catches her, sending her career into a tailspin. James' grandmother Helen then hires Lily to be her consultant on a trip to England, a trip that unsettles Lily to the core.
Lily receives a book from her father every year for her birthday, and this years book comes from England. Not only from England, but a town that Lily puts on the itinerary for herself and Helen. The town, Haworth, is one of the most vital plot points. Haworth is there the titular sisters wrote their novels, and where many of their contemporaries wrote defining works. It is also where Lily comes face to face with her past, and is pushed to make choices and take a stand.
The theme of "The sins of the fathers" is woven tightly through the entire book, with Lily questioning if her path has been predestined by the choices of her father, an unabashed con man. Lily does eventually decide that her life must become her own, that she must make her own choices while consciously deciding to do the right thing.
I was entertained by this book, especially the lush, sensual descriptions of the moors of England. The characters were a little flat, their motives only pushed by the need to "do the right thing" in order to be freed from the past. However, it was easy to understand why they needed to confront their demons. It was a fun read, and I'd recommend it to people who are a fan of the Bronte's, of 1830's English literature, or of the wilds of England.
In the interest of disclosure, I was given a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
