Fifteen Wild Decembers is Karen Powell’s reimagining of the life of Emily Brontë and her siblings, the first-person narrative creating an instant connection between the reader and Emily. Although the focus is mostly on Wuthering Heights’ author, Powell tries to picture what life would look like for siblings Charlotte and Anne, both of whom also went on to write great works. Of course – as with so many historic events – there is no certainty of the minutiae of what was said or done, thus keeping the novel in the realms of fiction. 

The way Powell writes is poetic, and melancholic: her language is era-appropriate, the descriptions raw and full of little details that could make you suppose the book is an authentic 19th-century artefact. Fifteen Wild Decembers’ depiction of Emily’s short life feels like a stolen moment in time: she is passionate but lost in the big world, trying to navigate through the emotions and hardships of being a woman. 

The nostalgia that beams through the pages of Powell’s book calls to mind Emily Brontë’s body of poetry – nearly 200 poems – described by Charlotte as having a “peculiar music – wild, melancholy and elevating”. This, meanwhile, is an engaging, curious story of family ties and what home means for you when you grow up. Is it always going to be only the moors? Or is it something new each time your heart beats with longing for another human being?