'Brilliantly entertaining and original' C.L. Taylor
'A standout book' Rosie Walsh
From the Sunday Times-bestselling author Rowan Coleman, comes a special new series featuring the Bront sisters, written under the name Bella Ellis
Yorkshire, 1845. Dark rumours are spreading across the moors. Everything indicates that Mrs Elizabeth Chester of Chester Grange has been brutally murdered in her home - but nobody can find her body.
As the dark murmurs reach Emily, Anne and Charlotte Bront, the sisters are horrified, yet intrigued. Before they know it, the siblings become embroiled in the quest to find the vanished bride, sparking their imaginations but placing their lives at great peril . . .
Loved The Vanished Bride? Pre-order The Diabolical Bones, the next book in the Bront Mysteries series now!
Praise for The Vanished Bride:
'Evocative and utterly enchanting' Sarah Hilary
'A gripping, twisty mystery' Angela Clarke
'A splendid adventure' Guardian
'A joy from start to finish' Alex Marwood
'Happily, more Bront mysteries are to be expected' TLS
Bella Ellis is the Bront inspired pen name for the award winning, Sunday Times bestselling author Rowan Coleman. A Bront 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.
Romps along and is lashed with Gothic colour. Fun and inventive.
Daily Mail
Bront fans will undoubtedly get the most out of this: possible inspirations for Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall are everywhere. But you don't need insider knowledge to enjoy either the splendid adventure, or the touching and often funny portrayal of the sisters' devotion to and exasperation with one another and their debauched brother.
Guardian
Brilliantly entertaining and original
Elegant, witty and compulsively readable - I think the Bront sisters would have been delighted. A standout book
Rosie Walsh
a gorgeous book - perfectly paced and completely charming. As a mystery, it is compelling and satisfying; as a portrait of the Bronts it is insightful, moving and inspiring. It is an absolute treat from start to finish
Jane Casey
Incredible . . . Bella Ellis is a very special talent: the Bronts are magically brought to life in this gripping, twisty mystery. I need more!
Bront aficionados are sure to enjoy the accurate characterization and context, the twists turns and Gothic touches of the plot, and the strong feminist streak that manifests itself throughout, but most triumphantly at the end. Happily, more Bront mysteries are to be expected.
TLS
Evocative and utterly enchanting
Sarah Hilary
Great, gothic fun . . . the Bronts are so skilfully and cleverly depicted that it's no stretch at all to imagine the sisters, and their wastrel brother, Branwell, as amateur sleuths
Red Magazine
Wonderful . . . A treat for everyone. I loved it so very much
Ms. Ellis - writing under a pen name - hews to the biographical facts in fashioning this swift story, while her plot (Gothic touches included) seems suitably Bront-esque. The Vanished Bride is a delight
The Wall Street Journal
Compelling, clever and hugely imaginative, it brings the three Bront sisters magnificently to life . . . Glorious fun - I adored it!
Clever and captivating
What a breath-taking concept that Rowan has completely pulled off - setting up our most beloved literary heroines as investigators in a compelling mystery that asks us to think about the constraints of women in that time . . . Fun, charming and intriguing.
A joy from start to finish. I've gone from loving Charlotte Bront to wanting to be her.
What a treat! The Vanished Bride is an absolute delight from start to finish. Dashing across the Yorkshire moors with the Bront sisters felt like visiting dear old friends, and Bella Ellis does the most wonderful job in imagining Emily, Charlotte and Anne as 'detectors'.
Beautifully written,
deliciously atmospheric, and enormous fun, this series is certain to become a firm favourite
An absolute delight, period perfect, a racing romp of a mystery in the best tradition of the Bronts - I loved it with my whole heart.
The Vanished Bride is a clever and unique historical mystery that offers fascinating insights into the lives of the Bront siblings alongside an equally compelling atmospheric, gothic, and twisty tale. Fans of the Bront sisters' exquisite books will find much to love as Ellis pays homage to the spirit of their rich literary oeuvre. The Vanished Bride is sure to delight historical mystery lovers
The Vanished Bride hooks you from the first page with intricate characters, a wonderful plot and best of all, an amazing sense of time and place.
I look forward to reading Ms. Ellis's next adventure of the Bront Sisters
The Bronte sisters as sleuths - what a delicious idea! Bella Ellis has brilliantly recreated the feel and atmosphere of the Bront novels, as well as bringing the three sisters (and their dissolute brother) vividly to life. What's more, it's a rattling good story!
Appropriately gothic touches as well as the author's solid research on the lives and works of the Bronts . . . enrich a diverting adventure. Bront aficionados won't want to miss this one
Publishers Weekly