nCharlotte Brontë famously lived her entire life in an isolated parsonage on a remote English moor with a demanding father and with siblings whose astonishing creativity was a closely held secret. The genius of Claire Harmans biography is that it transcends these melancholy facts to reveal a woman for whom duty and piety gave way to quiet rebellion and fierce ambition. Drawing on letters unavailable to previous biographers, Harman depicts Charlottes inner life with absorbing intensity. Brontës blazingly intelligent female characters brimming with hidden passions transformed English literature, even as a heartrending series of personal losses followed the authors literary success. Charlotte Brontë A Fiery Heart is a groundbreaking view of the beloved writer as a young woman ahead of her time.n