A young woman has gone missing from her home, Chester Grange, leaving no trace, save a large pool of blood in her bedroom and a slew of dark rumours about her marriage. A few miles away across the moors, the daughters of a humble parson, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë are horrified, yet intrigued.
Desperate to find out more, the sisters visit Chester Grange, where they notice several unsettling details about the crime scene: not least the absence of an investigation. Together, the young women realise that their resourcefulness, energy and boundless imaginations could help solve the mystery - and that if they don't attempt to find out what happened to Elizabeth Chester, no one else will.
The path to the truth is not an easy one, especially in a society which believes a woman's place to be in the home, not wandering the countryside looking for clues. But nothing will stop the sisters from discovering what happened to the vanished bride, even as they find their own lives are in great peril...
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[Drawing her shawl a little closer around her, Charlotte adjusted her writing slope once more and dipped the nib of her pen back into the ink, her head bent low, nose just above the paper]***
(Hodder & Stoughton, 7 November 2019, 352 pages, ebook, ARC from @HodderBooks via # NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed)
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I don't read a lot of historical fiction but the blurb appealed to me and I really wanted to read this book. I'm so glad I did. I loved the premise of the book, a sinister mystery solved by the Brontës before they were famous writers. I loved the way the novel is structured, with each chapter told from the point of view of a different sister. This works really well, gradually drip feeding the story and the sister's impression of the events. The book is so well written it was a real pleasure to get lost in it. This is the perfect example of a historical mystery. There are so many possibilities to explain Elizabeth's disappearance and the author gradually reveals clue that lead you ever so carefully in the right direction. I get the impression the author has done a vast amount of research into the sister and the period. This does not bog down the book but enrichens it. I also get the impression the author is a fan of the sister as there are nods to their books scattered throughout. This was a treat.
