**Unfortunately, due to coronavirus precautions, this event has been postponed. We hope to reschedule.**
The Susanna Wesley Foundation
invites you to meet Sharon Wright, author of a new, acclaimed biography of Maria Branwell, the mother of the Brontë sisters.
Sharon Wright’s painstaking original research reveals for the first time the astonishing story of a lady of letters, expressive lover and mother of genius.
An educated and pious Georgian gentlewoman, she was raised in a wealthy Cornish home amid Enlightenment thinking, religious revival, political turmoil, gothic stories and rampant smuggling. Maria made a perilous journey across Regency England and found poor but passionate Evangelical Irish curate Patrick Brontë, her “dear saucy Pat”. Their world-changing love story produced a family like no other, riven by both genius and heartbreak.
The role of Maria’s Methodist upbringing and the Evangelical revival in drawing Maria and Patrick Brontë together is key to the Brontë story. This groundbreaking biography reveals the witty and educated woman from an influential Wesleyan family that knew John Wesley personally.
Tuesday 17th March
Duchesne Building, University of Roehampton
5.15 refreshments, 5.45 introduction, talk and interview, followed by drinks