The Brontë Plot

The central character is Lucy Alling, who works in an antique, interior design shop owned by Sid McKenna. Sid allows Lucy to operate a special area devoted to rare books. She is not just an employee, but is being mentored by Sid. Sid reminds her that the reputation of the shop rests on the integrity they bring to the work as highly regarded specialists. That reputation comes to a crashing halt when Lucy’s actions come to light in regards to “signed books,” her methods used to buying and selling items at and under Sid’s name for the shop. Sid’s reputation is on the line because of her actions. Reay lets us know that Lucy comes from three generations of con-artists, grifters. When her house of cards starts falling, her relationship with her mentor and employer suffers devastation. Her blossoming relationship with James, her boyfriend, blows up. What will she do? In walks the wealthy grandmother of her boyfriend, James. Helen who knows and understands Lucy’s crippling proclivity for “making up stories” instead of “plain talking.” Helen, who is seriously ill, wants to enjoy one more trip across England, visiting historical and literary places of significance; she asks Lucy to come with her to help facilitate the trip. This appeals to Lucy’s love of literature and the literary. Things come to a climax, she ends up back with Sid and to quote from The Music Man, she is “the sadder but wiser girl.” I enjoy history, British literature, reading, antiques, and this book hit all those buttons. Reay is a good writer and I rated this work of fiction a 4.8. But the fact that this book is sold as Christian fiction, by a Christian publisher, for me as a work of Christian fiction I could not rate it higher than 3.8. Why? Lucy does not exemplify Philippians 4:8 “…whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy, think on these things.” She is not a praiseworthy character. Even when she is brought low and is convicted, and starts a new redemptive path, it is based on her endeavors to cleaning up her life. God, the Bible, faith affecting practice are nowhere seen. So, I enjoyed the book, but it fails as a work of Christian fiction for me. Composite rate 4.

It takes a talented pen to consistently turn out novels that speak to an avid book lover’s heart! It takes talent and genuine passion for an author to progressively grow stronger and better with each new story. Katherine Reay easily falls into the latter category with "The Brontë Plot." Each of her novels (three, counting this release) is driven by literary influences and each is suffused in old-fashioned values. Basically, every book this author has penned has been a kind of ode to the novels that are perhaps left to the dust and forgotten among the contemporary impacts of modern fandoms.What this author does so very well is integrate classic literature into each of her stories without turning them into a contemporary re-telling. Where her first two books were heavy on Austen influences, "The Brontë Plot" takes cues from the Brontë sisters and still works in multiple references to beloved works of literature – everything from Molly Gibson and Roger Hamley (Wives & Daughters) to the very first vampire and classic, Dracula. Introduced in-between these familiar pieces of nostalgia, there are multiple other delicacies primed to whet any avid history lovers appetite. Instead of overwhelming the contemporary story this novel has to tell (and it’s one worth sharing, which I’ll talk about later on), the literary flourishes seek only to enrich the journey.Not to be diminished or lost among the decades of past nostalgia, but the contemporary (primary) story within these pages is beautiful. Lucy is the kind of character whose questionable values will make us pause. Only because she constantly teeters on the edge of deciding what’s right vs. what’s wrong. She’s likely to become a character we might not have the warmest feelings towards, but that’s okay. Lucy, to me, is an authentic character. If for no other reason (though there are many) then she makes us think and she made me wholeheartedly cheer for her change of mind and heart. The book is about her finding herself and in some sense, growing up. James, as a love interest is a fabulous man. He’s missing for too much of the story, though, ambiguous or not, I adored how the story eventually wrapped. It was exactly as it should be, denoting a new beginning in these characters’ lives.Lest I forget, I should also mention the third-person format in "The Brontë Plot". This is Katherine’s first novel that is written in such a format (her first was epistolary, second written in first-person) and I loved it. The fact that she has tackled so many brilliant presentations attests to her talent. The story is aesthetic and truly, brilliant. While "The Brontë Plot" is not traditional, at least not in the ordinary contemporary novel’s patterns, never fear because this is in actuality a strength well suited to this story. The beauty and uniqueness of this story are like a love letter to those scholars of classic literature. Anyone whose true love are the classics will appreciate this for all it has to offer, and those of us who admire what classic literature can inspire or teach will also be quite enchanted and enthralled with this armchair adventure.This review originally appeared on Silver Petticoat Review.

The peripheral characters are more interesting and more sympathetic than any of the main characters. There's no genuine or necessary link to the Brontes really: it's like the author just wanted to write something, anything about Haworth, so shoehorned a plot around it. Take the name Bronte out of the title and you could set it anywhere and it would have barely any impact on the storyline or characters.

In the beginning of my reader of The Bronte Plot by Katherine Reay, I believed I would not enjoy it. Within the first fifty pages, some of my thoughts included: characters don’t feel real; there seems to be a lot of information missing; and the setting has not been set up well enough to hold the significance the author tries to achieve.During the first fifty pages, the dialogue and the things certain characters do felt strange. After only seeing Lucy three times, James asks about Lucy’s father who she clearly in uncomfortable discussing. Examples such of this feel highly unrealistic and break any sort of immersion. On top of cases such as this, the first fifty pages feel over edited. Information seems to be missing and makes it hard to fully understand what is going on.Find the full review at curtiscalkins.com

Books. England through the eyes of an avid reader. Ragged relationships and forgiveness. Truth and consequences. Joys and complications of families. Love and choices. A great plot and enjoyable characters.

Very cute story and I loved the literary references so fun!!!