To Walk Invisible #TVReview #BriFri

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Last week, I reviewed the fourth, and most recent, book in The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency series — The Case of the Perilous Palace. Tina reviewed Mrs. Wilson, a show that Americans saw on PBS’s Masterpiece. I agree with her that a second watching would be worthwhile.

An episode of PBS’s Masterpiece that tells the story of the Brontë sisters — I’m not sure how I missed this biopic when it aired on Masterpiece in 2017, but I’m glad someone linked to it in a discussion thread on Facebook, recently.

To Walk Invisible tells the story of how and why the Brontë sisters published their books.

An episode of PBS’s Masterpiece that tells the story of the Brontë sisters.

My imagination was of a happier story than we get in To Walk Invisible — companionable writing sessions around the dining room table and long walks on the moors. We do get those, but most of the story features addiction, poverty, and the limited options for 19th century women.

I don’t know why I expected the real-life stories of the Brontë sisters to be merry and bright. After all, the books are pretty dark.

The costumes and setting are evocative of the 19th century. I loved the scenes on the moors, in the village of Haworth, and around the shops and streets of London. I particularly enjoyed the performance of Chloe Pirrie as Emily Brontë. Fortunately, Masterpiece interviewed the actor so I got to learn more about how she approached the role.

That interview and some other multi-media pieces related to the show are available on To Walk Invisible page at the Masterpiece site. If you have PBS Passport (a benefit of being a member of your local PBS station), you can watch the whole episode.

Have you seen this show? What did you think?

Comments

To Walk Invisible #TVReview #BriFri — 4 Comments

Tina on August 9, 2019 at 7:54 am said:

I’m glad you wrote about this one, I missed it too. Sounds like one I will ask the library for!

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Jean @ Howling Frog on August 9, 2019 at 11:41 am said:

I have now missed so much great stuff that I will never, ever catch up. I would really like to see this though. Jane Eyre being one of my all-time favorite books…but I’m also a big Anne fan. Wuthering Heights, OTOH, is not really my cup of tea.

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- Jean @ Howling Frog on August 9, 2019 at 2:20 pm said:
  
  I think it was you, Joy, who asked if I’d heard about a new theory from a historian about whether the Anglo-Saxons actually existed. I listened to the podcast and I was very frustrated by her theory. I see her point to an extent. But OTOH, of course they didn’t call themselves Anglo-Saxons, any more than early American colonists called themselves ‘early American colonists.’ And to my mind, the biggest problem with her ideas is the language — which she just sort of says, ‘yeah, that’s a problem, but I don’t know anything about language, maybe it was A, B, or C’ and, well, I’m no language historian, but even I knew her reasoning was utter nonsense. I can rant some more if you want but that would be boring 🙂
  
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