Walking the Invisible

By: Michael Stewart

Narrated by: Michael Stewart

See through the eyes of the Brontës as you immerse yourself in their lives and landscapes, wandering the very same paths they each would have walked in search of the inspiration behind their novels and poetry.

An ‘imaginative and elegant trek through the landscape of the Brontës’ Grazia

In his journey to get closer to the Brontës, award-winning author Michael Stewart began walking the historic paths they trod while writing their most famous works. From Liverpool to Scarborough, across wild, windy, and often unforgiving scenery, he discovered echoes of the siblings’ novels. And with the help of an unlikely cast of Yorkshire’s inhabitants, Michael found himself falling further into their lives and writings than he could ever have imagined.

Vivid and evocative, and including a series of beautiful maps of walks Michael devised when creating the iconic Brontë Stones project, Walking the Invisible invites you to experience the lives and landscapes that inspired the Brontës as they’ve never been experienced before. Along the way, you’ll find yourself getting closer to classics such as Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and Agnes Grey, discovering the real locations behind their fictional settings, and uncovering the myths that surround this much acclaimed and wholly unique family.

©2021 Michael Stewart (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

An ‘imaginative and elegant trek through the landscape of the Brontës’ Grazia

‘An essential companion’ Lancashire Post

‘Literary but unpretentious’ My Weekly

‘Stewart’s passion and enthusiasm for the Brontes’ lives and work and the landscape that shaped them is palpable and infectious. If you weren’t struck […] with “Bronte Fever” before, after reading this you may well be’ Yorkshire Post

‘A terrific tribute to the Brontës – and to the landscapes that shaped their literature’ Guardian

‘For those who wish to follow in the footsteps of the Brontës, however the surroundings might have shifted over 200 years, Michael Stewart is an engaging and knowledgeable guide to have leading the way.’Brontë Studies

‘An authoritative, inspirational and often humorous companion to a great Yorkshire family and the landscape that shaped them – and many others – throughout history’ Yorkshire Life

Abandoned it about halfway through

The author has a thick Northern accent, but it's not unpleasant, in fact, I thought his performance was reasonably good. If you have this available at your local library, then it's worth giving it a go to see if you like it better than I did, but overall, I doubt this book will appeal to most of its intended audience. I, for one, will be returning this book.

Really, I moderately enjoyed the first hour or two. I would listen to it while walking in my neighborhood and it was meandering but evocative. However, somewhere near the mid-point I began to lose interest in part due to finding the author unappealing personally. This was not immediately the case. Initially, I enjoyed his discussion of the landscape, Brontë stones, poems, walks, etc. but I think it was in chapter 5, Mr. Earnshaw's walk that the author started to veer off in a different direction... it was turning more into a pessimistic walking memoir rather than musings on the Brontës. The profanity also picked up quite a bit, and I found it jarring and unwelcome, though I like to think I am a fairly tolerant reader.

As it is, since I am preparing to go visit Haworth and the general area, I am abandoning this to focus instead on finishing Juliet Barker's biography and rereading the Brontës' works. I highly recommend the same to you instead of this book.