Wild Imaginings: A Brontë Childhood

This book will take you into the lives of the six Brontë children who were raised in Haworth Parsonage on the edge of the West Yorkshire Moors. Discover the world of a Victorian childhood and how the children dealt with isolation, the harsh education system and death. Read about how the children used the graveyard surrounding their garden as a playground and how they found solace in making up stories of imaginary islands, kingdoms and people. Reality and imagination mingled and spread so that they lived in a fantasy world of ghosts, horror, religion, disease, war, scientific discovery, love and humor; here anything could happen. Learn about the background to the childhood of those who were to become such remarkable authors. This book is as accurate in its factual content as it is fascinating in its fantasy.

Catherine Rayner is a nurse and former English lecturer.

She is a life member of the Brontë Society and has served on its Council of Trustees. She is actively involved with the Brontë Society and has a life-long interest in the lives and works of many Victorian authors.

Catherine lives and works in the East Riding of Yorkshire and has two children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Her hobbies are reading and studying a wide range of subjects, including history, crime, archaeology, and child psychology. She enjoys swimming and walking, when able, and visiting sites and buildings of historic interest.

Catherine was involved for many years in the care of adults with both learning difficulties and mental health issues which has led her to further research in social psychology, addiction and emotional trauma.

Catherine has written two books about the Brontës and is currently writing a literary handbook for walkers on Haworth and its surrounds, in partnership with her brother.