'Brussels is my promised land' Charlotte Brontë

A fascinating look at a crucial turning point in the Brontë sisters' lives

In 1842, five years before they would become bestselling authors, Charlotte Brontë and her sister Emily arrived in Brussels. They were there to improve their French and German, but the years they spent in a pensionnat being taught by the charismatic Constantin Heger would do much more than polish their languages. It was a crucial turning point for both their writing and their personal lives. Each came away from Brussels a more mature and capable artist; Charlotte, having fallen lastingly in love with Heger, left with a broken heart and the inspiration for two novels, The Professor and Villette.

Based on the Brontës' essays and Charlotte's letters and novels, as well as research into the Brussels of the time, this is a fascinating look at a formative period in the lives of two great writers. Tracing the influence of their Brussels years through their writing, MacEwan gives us insight into their artistic formation, and paints a vivid picture of the bustling 19th-century city that opened the sisters' eyes to life beyond Haworth Parsonage.

Helen MacEwan is a translator and educator who lives in Brussels. The founder of the Brussels Brontë Group, she organises talks and guided literary tours focusing on Charlotte and Emily Brontë's time in the city. She is also the author of Through Belgian Eyes: Charlotte Brontë's Troubled Brussels Legacy and Winifred Gérin: Biographer of the Brontës.