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This dazzling debut novel for fans of Mrs. Poe and Longbourn explores the scandalous historical love affair between Branwell Bront\xeb and Lydia Robinson, giving voice to the woman who allegedly corrupted her son\u2019s innocent tutor and brought down the entire Bront\xeb family.

Yorkshire, 1843: Lydia Robinson\u2014mistress of Thorp Green Hall\u2014has lost her precious young daughter and her mother within the same year. She returns to her bleak home, grief-stricken and unmoored. With her teenage daughters rebelling, her testy mother-in-law scrutinizing her every move, and her marriage grown cold, Lydia is restless and yearning for something more.

All of that changes with the arrival of her son\u2019s tutor, Branwell Bront\xeb, brother of her daughters\u2019 governess, Miss Anne Bront\xeb and those other writerly sisters, Charlotte and Emily. Branwell has his own demons to contend with\u2014including living up to the ideals of his intelligent family\u2014but his presence is a breath of fresh air for Lydia. Handsome, passionate, and uninhibited by social conventions, he\u2019s also twenty-five to her forty-three. A love of poetry, music, and theatre bring mistress and tutor together, and Branwell\u2019s colorful tales of his sisters\u2019 elaborate play-acting and made-up worlds form the backdrop for seduction.

But Lydia\u2019s new taste of passion comes with consequences. As Branwell\u2019s inner turmoil rises to the surface, his behavior grows erratic and dangerous, and whispers of their passionate relationship spout from her servants\u2019 lips, reaching all three protective Bront\xeb sisters. Soon, it falls on Lydia to save not just her reputation, but her way of life, before those clever girls reveal all her secrets in their novels. Unfortunately, she might be too late.

Meticulously researched and deliciously told, Bront\xeb\u2019s Mistress is a captivating reimagining of the scandalous affair that has divided Bront\xeb enthusiasts for generations and an illuminating portrait of a courageous, sharp-witted woman who fights to emerge with her dignity intact.