Interview with author Syrie James and review of her novel about Brontë and the man who secretly loved her *** 3 Stars
By Gabrielle Pantera

Secret love, The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 10/30/2009 “I was astonished to discover that much of Jane Eyre was inspired by Charlotte’s own experiences,” says The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë author Syrie James. “Despite her difficult circumstances at home, including the fact that her brother became an alcoholic and a drug addict and her father nearly went blind, she and her sisters Anne and Emily [who wrote Wuthering Heights] all became published authors at the same time. I can’t think of any other family in history who’ve achieved a similar literary feat. I knew it would make a fabulous story, and it had never been told.”

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë tells the story of Charlotte Brontë from her point of view. In her diaries, she’s very honest about who she is. Brontë has traveled a bit and fallen in love, but that love was not to be. Brontë is secretive, as all the Brontë sisters are about their writing. When they admit what they’re doing, they’re there for each other. The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë was selected by the National Women’s Book Association as a Great Group Read of 2009.

“While in Yorkshire, touring the former Roe Head School which Charlotte attended in her youth, the Director of the school took my husband and me up into the spooky, rambling attic and told us old legends of the Ghost of Roe Head,” says James. “He and others have seen strange apparitions, including an inexplicable, icy presence which haunted the main hall.  I feel certain that legends of the same mysterious, attic-dwelling ghost influenced Charlotte’s Jane Eyre.”

“Her father’s curate, the tall, dark, and handsome Arthur Bell Nicholls, carried a silent torch for Charlotte for more than seven years before he had the nerve to propose,” says James. “Charlotte greatly disliked him for many years, but her feelings eventually changed. She came to love him with all her heart.”

Author Syrie James, The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë

For her research, James poured over countless Brontë biographies. She read all the poetry of the Brontës, their published novels, Charlotte’s juvenilia, and her voluminous personal correspondence. More than 500 letters exist, preserved by Charlotte’s publisher’s literary adviser William Smith Williams and her friend Ellen Nussey. James studied the art of the Brontës which she found “quite remarkable”.  She also read everything she could find about the life of Arthur Bell Nicholls.”

“I went to Haworth, England,” says James. “I walked the village’s steep, narrow main street, and made an extended visit to the Brontë Parsonage Museum, which has been preserved to reflect the way it looked when the Brontës lived there. I haunted the church and the rooms and lanes where Charlotte and Emily and Anne lived and walked, and strolled through that gloomy graveyard in the pouring rain. I visited the Brontë library, where I was allowed to hold and read a selection of original letters and manuscripts penned by Charlotte and other members of the Brontë family.
 What an unforgettable thrill!”

Syrie James was born in Poughkeepsie, New York. She currently lives in Los Angeles.

Even thought James’ book is called a dairy, it’s not written in diary format. There are occasional references where Charlotte addresses her diary. The book is more conversational, as though Charlotte is telling you a story. James researched her subject thoroughly. Charlotte, her friends, and family come off as plausible. James adds details that are available. The drama isn’t over done. James’ characters are real people. As you read you can understand their feelings and why they do the things they do.

James makes Charlotte’s relationship and subsequent marriage to Arthur Bell Nicholls romantic, as Charlotte might have written herself. After reading this book you’ll want to go back and read the Brontë’s books. At the back of The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë there are is an afterward, question-and-answer section for the author, and excerpts from some of Charlotte’s letters, as well as some poems by the Bronte siblings.

James’ next book, to be published in 2010, is Dracula, My Love: The Secret Memoirs of Mina Harker. It’s the untold story of Bram Stoker’s classic Victorian thriller, revealing the heroine’s scandalous, secret passion for the young, charismatic Count Dracula. Mina is torn between two men, a loving husband and a dangerous lover. A lover who’s a vampire. He struggles against the evil within him, has a past that may have been misunderstood, and who would do anything to win the heart of the woman he adores.

James’ website is www.syriejames.com.

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë by Syrie James

Trade Paperback, 512 pages, Publisher: Avon, June 30, 2009. Language: English,  ISBN: 9780061648373 $14.99