The Madwoman Upstairs

The premise of the book looked exciting because it had three super interesting elements - Bronté sisters, the last living descendant of the Bronté family and a treasure hunt. It starts with Samantha Whipple, the last living descendant of the Bronté family joining Oxford Old College to study English Literature. Even though speculation is rife all over that she inherited the “Vast Bronté Estate” even though all she got was her father's bookmark and words that one day she would inherit the “Warnings of Experience”. And then she starts receiving her father's copies of the Bronté books one by one. She also slowly starts falling in love with her tutor Orville.

And that's all I understood in the book. The whole treasure hunt plot is almost nonexistent. There is some discussion about different interpretations of the sisters' books, their semi-autobiographical nature and how much of their books impacted their lives. This is probably the only saving grace of the book. There was a lot of banter between Samantha and Orville but it will probably make more sense to students of English Literature. Which brings me to the worst part of the book - it's narrator Samantha. She hates her family legacy, the sisters, the course she has enrolled to study and pretty much everything else. She comes across as naive, confused, disrespectful and obsessive. It was very difficult to find anything likable about her.

Sometimes you want to complete books even though you don't like the characters because there is something inherently interesting; here, I couldn't wait for it to get over fast enough.

Oh! This novel is wonderful! There is so many references to the Brontës that I think it would not be as fabulous if you haven't read many of those novels. Those references add so much to the story! It adds emotion, back story, deep connections and significance to the characters and events. I am ready to read this novel again and I just finished it! I am not yet ready to say goodbye to James and Samantha.