Lies and the Brontės
The Quest for the Jenkins Family
Monica Kendall
Hardback
Radical insights into Charlotte Brontės vital two years in Brussels (18423).
- ISBN 9781800420052
- Published Apr 2021
- Hardback
234 x 156mm (622 pages)
Do you like the truth? It is well for you. Adhere to that preference never swerve thence.
Charlotte Brontė, Shirley
The Jenkins family knew the Brontės in Brussels and West Yorkshire. Eager to learn about them, their descendant read the Brontė biographies, and discovered that no one had researched this family, and, worse, that what was written was fabricated, with one biographer copying another, embroidering, even making up dialogue.
Yet Mrs Gaskell had deliberately sought out Mrs Jenkins when researching her famous Life of Charlotte. If it had not been for Mrs Jenkins, Charlotte would never have gone to Brussels, never met M. Heger. There would be no Villette, no Jane Eyre.
This book purges the lies and identifies one of Charlottes characters for the first time. It reveals a thrumming wire that connects Byron to Trollope to Henry James, and gives further evidence of the adultery of William Wordsworths eldest son. Above all, it gives a radical new perspective on the inspiration for Charlottes novels and those vital two years she spent in Brussels.
Monica Kendall is the great-great-granddaughter of Rev. Evan and Eliza Jenkins, who looked after the Brontė sisters in Brussels in the 1840s, while her three times great-uncle was the incumbent at Pudsey church for many years, having been given his first job as a clergyman by Patrick Brontė. She was born in London and was a book editor for many years, including spells as a Hansard reporter at the House of Lords. She has a Masters degree from Oxford University, and another from University College London. 
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