The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis @brontemysteries BLOG TOUR #TheVanishedBride @HodderBooks

Yorkshire, 1845

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...

The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis is published today (7 November 2019), in hardback by Hodder & Stoughton.
My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review and who invited me to take part on this Blog Tour.

 

Author Bella Ellis takes three of our most famous female novelists, and their wayward brother and turns them into detectives in this original and clever mystery story.

Set in the wilds of Yorkshire in 1845, the Bronte sisters are distressed to learn that Elizabeth Chester; mistress of Chester Grange has disappeared. Their friend Matilda works at the Grange as governess to the Chester children, and the sisters travel to see her.

They learn that Elizabeth is not the first Chester bride to suffer, and that Mr Chester’s first wife Isabel took her own life years before.

The sisters’ are curious and are determined that they will solve these mysteries. They declare themselves to be ‘lady detectors’, and use their love of words and vivid imaginations to begin to get to the bottom of things.

The Vanished Bride is beautifully and elegantly written. The author’s passion and knowledge of the Bronte sisters shines through in her writing. This a clever and intriguing mystery with such atmosphere; there’s a real gothic feel to this read with an added touch of the supernatural too.

I absolutely loved this story; everything about it ticks every one of my reading boxes. The characters are wonderfully developed; drawing on what we know about the sisters in real life and making them so incredibly realistic. The wild Yorkshire setting is perfectly created, adding a touch of chilling suspense to the tale. And, of course, there's the mystery element that is intriguing and compelling.

The author also incorporates a lot of social history within her story. The Bronte sisters, and their brother and father were certainly not the norm for their times. The sisters come up against the age-old prejudices against women, but deal with these with wit and with bravery. It's great to see some sparky, independent female characters portrayed in what is often a historical period that puts females in the darkest shadows.

The Vanished Bride is charming, witty and intriguing and a wonderful beginning to what I hope will be a long-running series from this very clever author.







Bella Ellis is the Brontë inspired pen name for the award winning, Sunday Times bestselling author Rowan Coleman. 

A Brontë devotee for most of her life, Rowan is the author of fourteen novels including The Memory Book , The Summer of Impossible Things and The Girl at the Window, as well as the co-author of Mirror, Mirror, the debut novel by actor and model Cara Delevingne. 

Bella Ellis lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and five children.

Twitter @brontemysteries