Mutable Passions

Charlotte Brontë: A disquieting Affair

Life in mid-nineteenth century England was challenging. It was brutal, and Charlotte Brontë suffered perhaps more than her contemporaries. Mutable Passions takes up her story after the deaths of all her siblings. Troubled frequently by sleepless nights, ill health and loneliness, writing novels provided her only solace, but writing was not the same without the companionship and insights of her sisters. After completing Villette, Charlotte’s life was empty and the future appeared bleak; and she travelled extensively to help alleviate the loneliness. But then from an unexpected direction, hope arrived by way of her father’s curate. Arthur Bell Nicholls proposed to her. Patrick Brontë, though, and perhaps with sound reason, was incensed and disapproved vociferously of such a union. Charlotte fought hard to convince him of the worthiness of the man she had grown to love, and once her mind was made up, she wold not be deterred. Mutable Passions seizes upon what might be perceived an unexciting relationship between two ageing and pious lovers. From the biographical material, a perceptive, if personal and imaginative, account of events leading to an improbable marriage is constructed. A marriage that was short-lived, but brought happiness to Charlotte Brontë’s final months. Additionally, Mutable Passions brings life to the minor characters of whom little is detailed, but who were fundamental to Charlotte’s life.