Emily - A Story of the Brontes Part II

Emily hated the streets of Brussels. Walking on hard pavements, rather than the grass of the moors. More and more, she wanted to go home. She did not care for the elaborate Catholic churches, nor the narrow society of the English community in the city. But she knew she had to go back to the Pennsionnat. She could only escape for short times. So she retraced her steps. "There is a letter from Anne, dear," Charlotte said as she came into the dormitory. "I've saved it so we could both read it." Emily smiled and took off her cloak and bonnet. "That's good news. Let me sit down and we can be comfortable." Charlotte slit open the letter and with Emily leaning over her shoulder, they started to read. The letter was short, and shocking. Aunt Branwell was seriously ill. They should come home at once if they wanted to see her. "I'll go and see Madame. We will have to pack at once, Emmy." Emily sat on the bed. She was shaken but the truth was that she had never been close to her aunt. It seem as if she was not likely to recover. She sat there til Charlotte returned. Her sister was flurried and told Emily to start packing. "Madame says we must go at once. I am afraid we will not be away for long". "I will", Emily retorted. "If I go, I won't be back." "But we must come back. Come along, let's get our valises." Emily pulled out her valise from under the bed. She flung things in untidily, not folding her dresses or packing her boots nicely. The following morning, they left to drive to get the boat to England. Emily, Charlotte realised, had packed all her clothes and possessions. It was clear she wasn't coming back. Knowing how stubborn she was, she decided not to argue about it until they got home.

Peter Gilmore

Peter Gilmore is one of my favourite actors, and I was saddened some years ago when he died. While watching an old episode of the Bill, recently, I saw him again. And was as usual surprised by how good an actor he was. He was playing a man who had had a head injury which caused a personality change, and he was excellent. Gilmore was born in Germany, in 1931, but was brought up in Yorkshire. He wanted to be an actor and attended stage school for a time, but was expelled. He could sing as well as act and appeared in several stage musicals in the 50s and 60s. He also appeared in small roles in many of the Carry On films. He achieved TV stardom in the 1970's when he was cast as James Onedin in the Onedin Line. He was tall and handsome and rugged looking and he carried the series for many years, appearing in all 91 episodes. However, he did prefer stage work to film, and TV, and liked a live audience. He was very popular as James Onedin, a hard selfish man who founded his own shipping line. He was married twice, to Una Stubbs with whom he adopted a son, and then to Jan Waters. During the Onedin Line, he became involved with Anne Stallybrass who was playing his wife. They fell in love and lived together for some time, then in the 1980s they got married and lived in Devon. He felt that playing James had typecast him, and taken over his life.. so he finished with the show in 1980 and took on other roles. He was in an episode of Heartbeat with his wife. He also had a character role in a series about a Zoo vet, (One by One) and in a drama called The Manions of America. He died aged 81, in 2013.

Sara Paretsky (1947- )

Sara Paretsky is an American detective novelist. She was born in Iowa, and her father was a microbiologist. She attended University and studied political science and did an MBA. Her family life was not very happy. She lived in Chicago and married a professor of physics at the university there. She was involved in social work, and then began to write detective fiction. She created a character Victoria (Vic) Warshawski. Like Paretsky, Vic lives in Chicago. She studied law but then became a private detective. She married a lawyer but she and he began to diverge on political matters and they divorced. Vic is steadily left wing and her ex husband was much more conservative. She is partly Jewish and she was involved in many liberal causes in her youth, such as demonstrating against the Vietnam war, and running an underground abortion network. She is independent and has no interest in being married again or having children. She is very physically active and takes a lot of risks, in pursuing her cases. Paretsky was one of the first to create a woman detective who is tough and able to fight and look after herself. She is a bit too much of a card carrying left winger for my tastes but the stories are entertaining and a good read.

Emily story.

I've not been writing ficion for a long time, due to illness. But I hope to complete this story on Emily Bronte soon. I'll post in instalments.

Emily A story of the Brontes, by Nadine Sutton. Part I

"I don't want to go to Brussels, why should I? Take Anne." "Anne will have a turn later when we have a school. Emily, Papa won't let one of us go alone, and we need to learn more. Languages mostly." Charlotte sighed. She had come to realise that Emily was not as learned as she liked to make out. She had never been happy at school. And she was obstinate. She hated being away from Haworth. Charlotte herself loved their home but she longed to travel and learn as well. She had found the pensionnat in Brussels and wanted to go there but her father insisted that Emily should go as well. Emily sighed heavily and finally said, "Very well, I will go". However, in the next few months, she was not very cooperative. Papa had escorted them to Belgium and left them at the Pensionnat Heger. They were older than the girls at the school, being in their 20s. Emily disliked M and Madame Heger and the girls. She was not popular among the pupils either. Charlotte found the schoolgirls silly and vain but she did her best to get on with them. Emily hated Brussels almost as much as she had hated being away from Haworth in England. Charlotte tried taking her to parties and meals with the English community, but she would not go after a month or two. She sat silent and gloomy, and only talked a little with Mary and Martha Taylor. She was irritated by M Heger and Charlotte's dog like devotion to him. She quarrelled with him and defied him over her lessons. "How can you like him so much, Charlotte? He is an ugly cross little monster. And you sit with him and the dreadful wife each evening." Charlotte said nothing. Emily sighed, then put on her cloak and walked out. The girls were not supposed to go out alone, but she often walked around the city to tire herself out. She did not find it very interesting, and although she could now understand French fairly well, she did not find the inhabitants interesting either.

E Arnot Robertson

Eileen Robertson was born in 1903, in Surrey. Her father was a doctor and her family life was not very happy. She went to a good school and then went abroad to study for a couple of years in France. At the age of 19, she became a magazine journalist. She wanted to write, and in 1927, she married Henry Turner, who was secretary of the Empire Press Union. They adopted a son. She wrote several novels, including one set in Malaysia, which she had never visited. Another successful novel was Ordinary Families, which was set in the countryside, with a heroine Lalage, who comes from a family that loves boating. Her later novels did not do so well. She went on writing journalism, and enjoyed boating with her husband. However when he died in a boating accident, she committed suicide. I've just picked up a copy of Ordinary Familes, which has rather disappointed me. The book does not seem to have much of a plot, and the characters are snobbish and sailing obsessed. Not sure if I will finish it. Usually when I re read books I used to like, I still enjoy them, but this is an exception.

Last of Summer

This is one of Kate O'Brien's novels that I have not been able to get a copy of. I did read it some years ago. It is set in rural Ireland, just before World War II breaks out. The Kernahan family live a quiet life in a country village. They are dominated by Hannah, mother of the family. Angele Maury turns up to visit them. She is their cousin. Her father left Ireland years ago and married a French girl. Angele is an actress. Hannah is clearly not pleased to see her and does not like the way that her two sons are both attracted to their cousin. She like a lot of Irish people at the time, does not want to think about the possibility of war. She wants Ireland to remain neutral and to keep out of world problems. Angele being French is ready to go to war with the Germans. She wants to go back to France as soon as possible, to take her part in the conflict. Hannah is annoyed when her sons quarrel over Angele, and when they want to join up and fight the Nazis. But they go ahead anyway. Angele leaves and goes back home.