Earlier this month I took a holiday in the North-West of England, where I first lived as a student nearly twenty years ago. The trip was partly a sentimental journey, and partly for research as the novel I’m currently writing is set in the area. One of the places I always wanted to visit while at university was the Brontё Parsonage Museum, but I never got round to it.

Over the last year I’ve been digging out all my Brontё novels and re-reading the biographies, so finally decided it was time to make the journey to Haworth, the Yorkshire village where this extraordinarily gifted family created some of the masterpieces of English literature.

Among the treasures I picked up was Charlotte Brontё’s Corset, a pamphlet from the parsonage’s current (actually, first) writer in residence, the poet Katrina Naomi. Continue reading →