←Recommendations of CHARLOTTE'S LETTERS

A gorgeous layered play about love, duty, and memory. I was hooked from the lyrical opening through the end. What does a biographer owe her subject? Absolute truth (warts & all) or a truth ensconced in the mores of the times? I loved the mixture of “duties” required by Charlotte to family, work, and her calling combined with Gaskell’s duty as biographer and protector-of-reputation. There is irony that while Gaskell cleansed Chatlotte’s reputation, she also preserved it. O’Grady seamlessly puts together a story of complicated women navigating a time that was not kind to them.

If you're really into the Brontë sisters, you're gonna love this play.

Oh, how I love this play. As a fan of 19th century British literature, and the Brontës in particular, reading this was a treat. Elegantly written and beautifully spare, O'Grady captures both Charlotte Brontë's spirit and character, and puts forth her supposition regarding the genesis of "Jane Eyre" with remarkable clarity and a sure sense of the dramatic, licenses notwithstanding. A superb, magical, wonderful work.

You don't have to be a fan of gothic fiction to be enthralled by this fascinating glimpse into the private life of Charlotte Bronte, author of Jane Eyre. O'Grady offers a theory about an emotional affair that might have inspired the novel, but tells it through the eyes of Charlotte Bronte's friend and biographer, Mrs. Gaskell, whose desire to protect the author's reputation conflicts with her own need to ferret out the truth. O'Grady handles the material deftly, with both humor and lyricism, yet the tension never flags. Quite an achievement.

This story was done with such grace and dignity - qualities Emily Bronte possessed. I love the novel "Jane Eyre" and this back story of her time spent in Belgium. The romance has a sad ending but during its development so much is said about beauty - in gardens, which Emily loved, and French lessons which Emily found challenging. The point of view makes this play exciting. This is not the standard tale about Emily and her family, but a story about Emily alone in a foreign country. A great addition to Emily's legacy.

It is no wonder that this play has won so many awards. It is a sweeping romance full of gentle lyricism, beautifully rounded characters, fascinating structure, and tremendous heart. O'Grady is unflinching, but loving as she paints a picture of the eccentric Charlotte in all of her courage and brilliance and fear and foolishness. The character of Heger is absolutely lovable. This could be seen on stage, but I could also easily see this as a movie! It's stunningly romantic and tenderly subtle. What a wonderful play, especially beautiful for women. Highly recommended.

A playwright with tremendous emotional range and structural capacity, O'Grady tackles the monumental Brontë sisters. This play's a wonder — Exquisitely researched, architecturally rendered, yet with this organic substrate —— this loudly beating heart that quickens throughout the compelling story. The play's well-recognized, with numerous accolades and awards — But this play should be produced. O'Grady brings this 19th century family into the present in a stunning piece of writing. Brava!

I had the pleasure of reading "Charlotte's Letters" and was completely captivated by its elegiac language and haunting themes. Clearly written by a poet, O'Grady creates a window into the imagined lives of both Charlotte and Emily Bronte, their devoted relationship, and the appearance of a professor, who falls secretly and slowly in love with one of them. The fabric of the Victorian world unravels, while the playwright switches back and forth between the lives and loves of the sisters, and the troubled biographer who wants to remain true to the Bronte legacy. O'Grady keeps the audience beautifully enthralled.

Well-deserving of all its awards, this is a thrilling dramatic piece that I read with such hope for the characters! And it is so wonderful to have Charlotte and Emily on stage with all the difficulties of their lives in such an imaginative story that makes Rochester and Jane Eyre live again, and the maid Justine - O'Grady is more than a sly historian, she is a mischief-maker!