Discovering the Brontës in Brussels

A new book about the Brontës in Brussels has just been published. The author, Helen MacEwan, clarifies what the book is about:

The book is about the Brussels Brontë Group rather than simply the Brontës in Brussels. It is about how the group was started up and grew, and tells the story of how the group members first got into the Brontës and, when they moved to Brussels, became interested in the Brontës in Brussels. I talk about the particular projects and interests of group members (whether creative or research). In the course of telling the story of the group, and the individual stories of its members, a lot is said about the Brontës in Brussels and what it is about their Brussels period that fascinated all of us. The book is also about the experience of finding out about the Brontës in Brussels while living in Brussels itself.

Originally published on the Brussels Brontë Blog:

Down the Belliard Steps: Discovering the Brontës in Brussels
Helen MacEwan
ISBN No 978-0-9573772-0-2
Publisher: Brussels Brontë Editions
Paperback
146 pp

Charlotte and Emily Brontë’s stay in Brussels in 1842-43 to improve their French was to prove a momentous one for Charlotte in particular. She fell in love with her French teacher, Constantin Heger, and her experiences in the Belgian capital inspired two of her four novels, Villette and The Professor. Yet the Brontës’ Brussels episode remains the least-known of their lives.

When Helen MacEwan moved to Brussels in 2004 she discovered that not many people there seemed to know much about the Brontës’ time in the city. She herself had a lot to find out about their life in the Pensionnat Heger at the bottom of the Belliard steps. In the process of doing so she met other people who were similarly fascinated by the story, and with them formed the Brussels branch of the Brontë Society.

For all these people, following in Charlotte and Emily's tracks in modern-day Brussels, and setting up a literary group, was a voyage of discovery. In the course of telling their story, Helen finds some odd parallels between the Brussels of their day and ours, and reflects on why the Brontës' time there is so fascinating.

You can buy it in the English bookstores Waterstones and Sterling Books in Brussels, or from the Brontë Parsonage Museum shop.