Having completed my degree dissertation on Charlotte Bronte, I was intrigued to discover that Karen Powell’s Fifteen Wild Decembers reimagines Emily Bronte’s life because I know less about her, and so I was thrilled when lovely Daniela Petracco at Europa sent me a copy in return for an honest review that I’m delighted to share that review today.

Fifteen Wild Decembers will be published by Europa on 21st September 2023 and is available for purchase here.

Fifteen Wild Decembers

Isolated from society, Emily Brontë and her siblings spend their days inventing elaborate fictional realms or roaming the wild moors above their family home in Yorkshire. When the time comes for them to venture out into the world to earn a living, each of them struggles to adapt, but for Emily the change is catastrophic. Torn from the landscape to which she has become so passionately bound, she is simply unable to function.

To the outside world, Emily Brontë appears taciturn and unexceptional, but beneath the surface her mind is in a creative ferment. A violent phenomenon is about to burst forth that will fuse her imaginary world with the landscape of her beloved Yorkshire and change the literary world forever.

Fifteen Wild Decembers is the dazzling second novel from a writer who has been compared to Shirley Hazzard and Graham Greene, and whose first novel was described as ‘utterly stunning’, ‘mesmerizing’ and hailed as ‘a masterpiece.’

My Review of Fifteen Wild Decembers

A re-imagining of the life of Emily Bronte.

Oh my goodness! Fifteen Wild Decembers is exactly my kind of read. I absolutely adored it with a kind of visceral physicality. 

The writing is quite wonderful. So many times Karen Powell uses a beautiful, imaginative turn of phrase that had me metaphorically exclaiming ‘Yes!’ to myself.  She has that ability to describe in ways the reader can only dream about, making Fifteen Wild Decembers not just an engaging narrative, but an immersive and captivating one too, placing the reader right at the heart of the novel. There’s beauty and brutality here and despite already knowing many of the details upon which the novel is based, I found myself totally undone by its ending.

Emily Bronte’s voice is clear, convincing and strong so that the imagined elements of the story feel realistic, authentic and compelling. The foreshadowing of Wuthering Heights through Emily’s inner thoughts, passions and desires is dramatic, plausible and astounding, making for a read that is entertaining, intelligent and mesmerising. I think it’s her first person voice that creates this effect so brilliantly.

The plot of Fifteen Wild Decembers is both familiar and innovative so that readers can find personal hooks that feel intimate and satisfying, whilst other aspects are developed to create superb insight and entertainment. I especially loved the relationships between the Bronte siblings because they held a different perspective and made me consider my own beliefs about all the family afresh.

With feminism, domestic life, ambition and mental health as a supporting backdrop, Fifteen Wild Decembers is modern and affecting even as it is historically and literarily satisfying.

I’m aware I haven’t said a great deal about the book but I’m not sure I could have loved Fifteen Wild Decembers more. It’s a fabulous book and not to be missed.

About Karen Powell

Karen Powell was born in Rochester, Kent. She left school at 16 but returned to education as a mature student to study English Literature at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. She lives in North Yorkshire. An early draft of The River Within was awarded a Northern Writers’ TLC ‘New Fiction Reads’ prize, which seeks to support work-in-progress by new, emerging and established writers across the North of England.

For further information follow Karen on Twitter/X @karenlpowell1. You’ll also find Karen on Instagram