Anne Lister and Emily Brontë 1838–39: Landscape with Figures

Abstract

Abstract Anne Lister and Emily Brontë lived within a mile of each other during the winter of 1838–39. Biographers and novelists alike have wanted a relationship between diarist and novelist. Though scant evidence of Emily Brontë's Law Hill winter survives, Anne Lister's vividly detailed diaries offer evidence to answer questions that have long concerned Brontë writers. First, did Anne and Emily know each other? Did they inhabit the same world? Second) given the significance of Emily Brontë's Law Hill winter in later inspiring Wuthering Heights, does the Anne Lister evidence now available help us re-read that brilliant yet puzzling novel?