Crave The Rose: Anne Brontë At 200

We’re less than one week from the 200th birthday of the great Anne Brontë, so I’m thrilled to say that my new book to mark this occasion, ‘Crave The Rose: Anne Brontë At 200’ is available right now from its publisher Valley Press, based in Anne’s beloved Scarborough, from Amazon or by ordering from your local book shop (even better if it’s an independent bookshop of course).

I don’t like to blow my own trumpet, but I’m really pleased with this book and as I know there are lots of Anne fans reading this book, I thought I’d briefly share details of Crave The Rose. It contains things never seen in a Brontë book before, and thanks to the team at Valley Press it looks absolutely beautiful too.

Crave The Rose by Nick Holland
‘Crave The Rose: Anne Brontë At 200’ is out now!

My book is in three sections, the first of which is a mini-biography of Anne Brontë over the course of nine chapters. Each chapter opens with an Anne Brontë poem that is relevant to that part of her life, and this biography contains new information that has come to my attention since I wrote ‘In Search Of Anne Brontë‘ five years ago.

The middle section looks at a recently discovered essay by Anne Brontë which has never appeared in a book before. The essay is included in full, and I also explain where the essay was found, how it was verified that Anne was the author, and why I believe that these are the final words that Anne Brontë ever wrote.

Crave The Rose by Nick Holland

The final section also contains things that can be found in no other Brontë book, as we take a walk back to the nineteenth century archives and hear first person accounts of people who met the Brontës face to face in their everyday lives. It gives us real insight into what the Brontës were like, and many of the accounts are incredibly moving – and often very surprising too.

I hope you will enjoy reading ‘Crave The Rose: Anne Brontë At 200’ as much as I enjoyed writing it. Next Friday there will be a birthday post to mark Anne’s big day itself, and I may see some of you at Brontë 200 events in Bradford on Friday and Scarborough (I hope to be there on Sunday). For now I leave you with ‘The Narrow Way’, Anne’s magnificent poem which contains the title words to my new book:

Crave The Rose by Nick Holland

‘Believe not those who say
The upward path is smooth,
Lest thou shouldst stumble in the way
And faint before the truth.
It is the only road
Unto the realms of joy;
But he who seeks that blest abode
Must all his powers employ.
Bright hopes and pure delights
Upon his course may beam,
And there amid the sternest heights,
The sweetest flowerets gleam; –
On all her breezes borne
Earth yields no scents like those;
But he, that dares not grasp the thorn
Should never crave the rose.
Arm, arm thee for the fight!
Cast useless loads away:
Watch through the darkest hours of night;
Toil through the hottest day.
Crush pride into the dust,
Or thou must needs be slack;
And trample down rebellious lust,
Or it will hold thee back.
Seek not thy treasure here;
Waive pleasure and renown;
The World’s dread scoff undaunted bear,
And face its deadliest frown.
To labour and to love,
To pardon and endure,
To lift thy heart to God above,
And keep thy conscience pure, –
Be this thy constant aim,
Thy hope and thy delight, –
What matters who should whisper blame,
Or who should scorn or slight?
What matters – if thy God approve,
And if within thy breast,
Thou feel the comfort of his love,
The earnest of his rest?’

3 thoughts on “Crave The Rose: Anne Brontë At 200”

  1. Hello Nick,

    My aim for the bicentenary year of Anne Brontë is reading or rereading all material I have about Anne Brontë: biographies, her novels, her poetry. I started off by reading your book “in search of Anne Brontë”, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also went on to buy your new book on Anne Brontë, and I’m looking forward to that very much. Up to now, I have really enjoyed your books and posts on the blog, and I’m sure the new book will be as delightful as the others were. By reading your articles and books I have also started to appreciate even more Anne’s poetry. She has written some real gems which I was not aware of as I was always reading Emily’s beautiful poems (you also wrote a wonderful book on Emily starting from her poetry!). Anyway, i just wanted to congratulate you on your new book and i am looking forward to reading it soon. Keep up the good work! Kind regards
    Marina

  2. Nick, I asked a former girlfriend who lives in Scarborough and just 600 feet from Anne’s grave to place some flowers and a card on my behalf as I live 3,000 miles away in Seattle and she refused. Can you do this for me as I would have loved to be there for Anne. I have turned many of her words from her famous preface into epigraphs for the first of three books that I wrote about my daughter and I wanted her to know this and how powerful her writing has always been for me. I will buy your second book as I buy all books about Anne..

  3. Such a wonderful poem. I can’t wait for my copy of the book to arrive. I am nearly finished with my current book and ready to dive right in to Crave the Rose

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