Reimagines the lives of the Brontë siblings—Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and brother Branwell—from their precocious childhoods, to the writing of their great novels, to their early deaths.

A form-shattering novel by an author praised as “laugh-out-loud hilarious and thought-provokingly philosophical” (Boston Globe).

How did sisters Emily, Charlotte, and Anne write literary landmarks Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Agnes Grey? What in their lives and circumstances, in the choices they made, and in their close but complex relationships with one another made such greatness possible? In her new novel, Rachel Cantor melds biographical fact with unruly invention to illuminate the siblings’ genius, their bonds of love and duty, periods of furious creativity, and the ongoing tolls of illness, isolation, and loss.

As it tells the story of the Brontës, Half-Life of a Stolen Sister itself perpetually transforms and renews its own style and methods, sometimes hewing close to the facts of the Brontë lives as we know them (or think we know them), and at others radically reimagining the siblings, moving them into new time periods and possibilities.

Chapter by chapter, the novel brings together diaries, letters, home movies, television and radio interviews, deathbed monologues, and fragments from the sprawling invented worlds of the siblings’ childhood. As it does so, a kaleidoscopic portrait emerges, giving us with startling intensity and invention new ways of seeing—and reading—the sisters who would create some of the supreme works of literature of all time.


What People are Saying

Booklist

Booklist

“Cantor pulls out all the stops to make this a unique and unforgettable reading experience that is as difficult to describe as it is to set down . . . Clever without straining, true to the basic facts of the Brontë family history, and emotionally compelling as the children grow while continuously facing new obstacles, Cantor’s unusual tale can be read and reread for endless diversion.”

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Kirkus Review

Kirkus Review

Cantor’s “skewed take on the [Brontë] lives plays fair with their limited life spans and general relationships to each other and the world while throwing them into a setting replete with bagels, McMansions, subways, television, and soy milk. The structure of the novel is playful … with a few surprising insights. Our Verdict: GET IT.”

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Publishers’ Weekly

Publishers’ Weekly

“Cantor spins a free-ranging and intriguing tale of a literary family inspired by the Brontës that incorporates a mix of forms and anachronistic details . . . Cantor’s frisky and time-collapsing blend of forms elevates the experiment above run-of-the-mill Brontë fodder . . . For Brontë fans, this is a jolt of fresh air.”

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Foreword Reviews (Starred Review)

Foreword Reviews (Starred Review)

“Innovative . . . Cantor spins the known biographies of the Brontë siblings into a surrealist, eccentric story where modernity blends with the archaic … Retells the story of the Brontë family with flair.”
Shelf Awareness

Shelf Awareness

“With Half-Life of a Stolen Sister, one can add Rachel Cantor (A Highly Unlikely Scenario) to the list of authors who have gleefully employed anachronisms in the service of a historical novel … a clever work by one of America’s most original stylists.”

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Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

Rachel Cantor succeeds with energy and empathy in Half-Life of a Stolen Sister, in which familial eccentricity abounds, sorrow pervades and time wobbles … Cantor’s third novel brims with insight and intensity … Cleverly conceived and adroitly accomplished, Cantor’s novel vividly portrays the sisters … [an] inspired and singular triumph.”

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Vol. 1 Brooklyn

Vol. 1 Brooklyn

“There’s been a lot written over the years about the Brontë siblings… With her new novel, Rachel Cantor explores these uniquely creative lives in a formally inventive way, making for a singular look at literary history.”

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Bethanne Patrick (The Bookmaven)

Bethanne Patrick (The Bookmaven)

“Cantor is one of the finest experimental novelists working today … an ingenious take on a clan whose personal relationships were as much an invention as their books.”

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New England Review

New England Review

“A masterful work of historical fiction, Rachel Cantor’s Half-Life of a Stolen Sister is a captivating reimagining of the lives and careers of the Brontë siblings … Reconciling bibliographic knowledge with artistic innovation, Cantor constructs a compelling narrative of the complex relationships between the three sisters and their lesser-known brother, Branwell.”

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Book Bub

Book Bub

Must-Read New Literary Fiction of Summer 2023: “This inventive novel explores the life of sisters Emily, Anne, and Charlotte Brontë, diving into their stories with a combination of biographical fact and fantastical imagination. As the story of the sisters progresses, it shifts itself into new and evolving forms: sometimes mirroring those that the literary geniuses themselves used and other times ebbing into new times and circumstances. Together, this novel fuses fact with fiction, creating a beautiful mosaic of the Brontës’ lives and a love letter to their literature.”

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Yale Alumni Magazine

Yale Alumni Magazine

“Only the audaciously inventive, deeply knowledgeable, and empathetically satirical Rachel Cantor could pull off this slippery cross-fertilization of past and present … [Charlotte’s] ruminations about narrative, character, writing, gender, love, and grief bespeak both Lotte’s and Cantor’s literary acumen. Richly layered, insightful, funny, and sad, Half-Life of a Stolen Sister is a gem of a novel for any century.”

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Historical Novel Society

Historical Novel Society

“The vignettes capture the voices of the storytellers across time, from childhood imaginings of wild woods and evil lords to adult contemplations of mortality and loss … Yet the reader is never lost in time, continuing to connect deeply with the characters, their thoughts, and experiences. Innovative. Infectious. Insightful. Indelible. … A fascinating take on the Brontë story.”

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Johns Hopkins Magazine

Johns Hopkins Magazine

“The book’s rich humor lies in its adept and casually seamless merger of the voice and vocabulary of the characters’ early 19th-century milieu with the trappings of our media-hungry society.”

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Book Culture

Book Culture

“Our Most Anticipated Books of July 2023: A kaleidoscopic, playful reimaging of the lives of the three Brontë sisters (and their brother, Branwell), Half-Life of a Stolen Sister is in turns a fact-based historical portrait, an alternate-universe timeline, and a wholly original novel. Perfect for fans of Rivka Galchen and Katherine Dunn.”

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Recommended by:

Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of With or Without You

Dazzling in design, Cantor’s showstopping retelling of the lives of the Bronte sisters (and brother Branwell) gleefully shapeshifts the legends we think we know into an ingenious new context we’ve never imagined. Using emails, diaries, movies, radio programs and more, Cantor meshes facts with fictions to illuminate art, sisters, love, and life, and how creativity can arise out of soul-killing sorrows. Heart-wounding and deeply funny, Cantor’s novel’s exuberant risk-taking and bottomless compassion for her genius subjects make this book a work of genius in itself.

Joanna Rakoff, author of My Salinger Year

Rachel Cantor is among the most exciting, singular novelists of our time and Half-life of a Stolen Sister is her best yet.

Sari Wilson, author of Girl Through Glass

I was entranced. Through Cantor’s virtuosic prose and empathic storytelling, I was drawn into the swirling drama and brilliance of this dysfunctional and ambitious family. I felt each death, each hurt, each creative triumph as my own. I became one of the Brontës. This hypnotic novel is a masterpiece.

Robin Black, author of Life Drawing

Long a fan of Cantor’s breathtaking synthesis of intellectual brilliance and rare compassion, I am gobsmacked by this novel, and by the steadily building power of what the author herself calls its “eccentric form.” Playful, doleful, witty, tragic, loving; as a life is all of this at once, so is this magical volume. The Brontës deserve something extraordinary, and Rachel Cantor has given them – and us – exactly that. Brava!

Marie Myung-Ok Lee, author of The Evening Hero

With humor and heart, Rachel Cantor paints a vivid, multi-voiced picture of the Bröntes via a shape-shifting, time-bending tapestry of unforgettable characters and situations … this book is a must-read for anyone looking for a truly innovative, tender, and humorous take on genius, the creative process, family, and life.