Take Courage

"I was wowed and moved." (Tracy Chevalier). Anne Bronte is the forgotten Bronte sister, overshadowed by her older siblings - virtuous, successful Charlotte, free-spirited Emily and dissolute Branwell. Tragic, virginal, sweet, stoic, selfless, Anne.

The less talented Bronte, the other Bronte. Or that's what Samantha Ellis, a life-long Emily and Wuthering Heights devotee, had always thought. Until, that is, she started questioning that devotion and, in looking more closely at Emily and Charlotte, found herself confronted by Anne instead.

Take Courage is Samantha's personal, poignant and surprising journey into the life and work of a woman sidelined by history. A brave, strongly feminist writer well ahead of her time - and her more celebrated siblings - and who has much to teach us today about how to find our way in the world. Praise for How To Be A Heroine: "Any woman with a remotely bookish childhood will find great pleasure in How to be a Heroine." Sunday Times).

"Genius...A fantastically inspirational memoir that makes you want to reread far too many books." (Observer). "Not so much self-help as shelf-help...A truly brilliant read." (Marie Claire). "Delightfully honest and warmly funny." (Daily Mail).

"The best kind of book: one that I gobbled up, wanting to go slow to savour it but unable to stop reading until it was all gone." (Observer).