THE MIST ON BRONTE MOOR by Aviva Cox-a review

ABOUT THE BOOK:  Released January 8, 2013

When fifteen-year-old Heather Jane Bell is diagnosed with alopecia and her hair starts falling out in clumps, she wants nothing more than to escape her home in London and disappear off the face of the earth.

Heather gets her wish when her concerned parents send her to stay with a great-aunt in West Yorkshire. But shortly after she arrives, Heather becomes lost on the moors and is swept through the mist back to the year 1833. There she encounters fifteen-year-old Emily Brontë and is given refuge in the Brontë Parsonage.

Unaware of her host family’s genius and future fame, Heather struggles to cope with alopecia amongst strangers in a world foreign to her. While Heather finds comfort and strength in her growing friendship with Emily and in the embrace of the close-knit Brontë family, her emotions are stretched to the limit when she falls for Emily’s brilliant but troubled brother, Branwell.

Will Heather return to the comforts and conveniences of the twenty-first century? Or will she choose love and remain in the harsh world of nineteenth-century Haworth?

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REVIEW:  The MIST ON BRONTE MOOR is the first novel by Aviva Orr. It is an engaging story of a troubled young girl that time travels back to nineteenth century England and gives us a fictional first- hand view of life in the famous Bronte household. Emily Bronte rescues Heather out on the English moor and takes her back to the parsonage. Heather Jane is quickly immersed in the Bronte household and the reader sees many sources of their inspiration for their future literary works. As a self-professed Anglophile, I adored how each chapter began with a verse of poetry written by Emily Bronte. Each chapter was written around the verse and it made the story flow beautifully. Ms. Cox did a great job researching history to accurately portray life “on the Moors”. Yorkshire England came to life for me as a reader.

Heather quickly falls for Branwell, the troubled brother. He was a brilliant man, but succumbed to alcohol and opium in later years. His character is richly described by the author. We are shown possible reasons why he went down this dark path. The young romance between Heather and Branwell felt forced to me, but a “lost love” angle was interesting to ponder.

I recommend this novel for history and English literary buffs, but as an adult woman, it was hard for me to connect to the young characters. We never learn how Heather Jane learns to cope with her disorder, but this experience did make her mature and she came away with a personal appreciation and respect for this talented family and their works. It was a quick and engaging read and I think YA readers of all ages will enjoy this novel.

ORDER LINKS: Amazon / Barnes and Noble / The Book Depository /

Reviewed by Jules

Copy supplied by the author.