The Brontë story has been written many times but rarely as compellingly as by the Brontës themselves. In this selection of letters and autobiographical fragments we hear the authentic voices of the three novelist sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, their brother, Branwell, and their father, the Reverend Patrick Brontë.Juliet Barker, author of the magisterial biography The Brontës, uses her unrivalled knowledge of the Brontë family to create an absorbing and entertaining book that is as original, compelling and bold as the Brontës themselves.'A gripping documentary chronicle of this extraordinary brilliant and insular family' New York Times Book Review 'Juliet Barker's knowledge of the family is unrivalled and she has already written a magnificent composite biography . . . Here, with an equal degree of sensitivity and with the addition of a wealth of previously unpublished material, she sets the family before us in their own words' Miranda Seymour, Sunday Times 'By her careful excerpting and excellent narrative insertions, Juliet Barker reprises the extraordinary success of her The Brontës . . . It is not easy to hold all the voices together . . . but Barker combines them magnificently, getting closer than anyone to the sound of everyday life at Haworth' Kathryn Hughes, Daily Telegraph