Lynn Reid Banks

Lynn Reid Banks was a writer and playwright, who died recently. She wrote 2 books about the Brontes, ficitionalised biographies called Dark Quartet and Path to the Silent Country. The first book covers the Brontes' lives from childhood until the siblings died leaving Charlotte alone, and the second one covers the last few years of her life, covering her time as a famous author, her marriage to Arthur Nicholls and her sad tragically early death. I like the second novel better, as it is pleasant to read of Charlotte's brief period of being famous and her having a more social life than before and her short but happy marriage to Arthur. She was desperately depressed at the deaths of her siblings within a few months of each other, first Branwell dying of drink related problems and TB. Emily caught a cold at his funeral and went into what was called Galloping Consumption. She refused any medical help and she would not let her sisters take care of her or discuss her illness and she kept on struggling to lead a normal life till the day of her death. Charlotte was tormented by the way she refused to help herself or let anyone help her. She died, and left her 2 sisters and father alone. Then Anne fell ill and they were told that she too had TB. She did try to get better, and did not insist on fighting alone, so it was easier to cope with her illness. She took medicines, but it did not help. She too declined rapidly, and realised she was not going to survive. She asked Charlotte if it was possible for her to go to Scarborough, where she had once spent a holiday, in hopes that the sea air might help her. They went on the trip, Charlotte accompanied by her friend Ellen Nussey, and they had a few days of at least seeing Anne happy in the seaside town. But she soon got worse and she felt it was better to die at Scarborough rather than give her father the pain of burying a third child. She died peacefully, and Charlotte buried her in Scarborough and then returned home. In desperation, Charlotte decided to try and go on writing, to take her mind off her terrible losses. M/F