In 1846 Yorkshire, the Brontë sisters—Charlotte, Anne, and Emily—navigate precarious lives marked by heartbreak and struggle. Charlotte faces rejection from the man she loves, while their blind father and troubled brother add to their burdens. Despite their immense talent, no one will publish their poetry or novels. Amidst this turmoil, Emily encounters a charming shepherd during her solitary walks on the moors, yet he remains unseen by anyone else.
After Emily’s untimely death, Charlotte—now a successful author with Jane Eyre—stumbles upon hidden letters and a mysterious map. As she stands on the brink of her own marriage, Charlotte is determined to uncover the truth about her sister’s secret relationship.
The Man in the Stone Cottage is a poignant exploration of sisterly bonds and the complexities of perception, asking whether what feels real to one person can truly be real to another.

Praise for The Man in the Stone Cottage

“I could not put this book down and when I did, because it ended, I was crying because the writing was so beautiful. It was as though the Brontë sisters had walked out from the pages of one of their own books. Stephanie Cowell has written a masterpiece about the women who wrote masterpieces like Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Agnes Grey. I imagined I could reach out and touch them, feel the wind of those magical moors on my face, hear the love in their voices for each other, and believe in The Man in the Stone Cottage who may have been in Emily’s make-believe world, but who seemed so real to me as well as to her. This is surely Cowell’s best book yet.”

—Anne Easter Smith, author of A Rose for the Crown and This Son of York

“With The Man in the Stone Cottage, Stephanie Cowell asks what is real and what is imagined and then masterfully guides her readers on a journey of deciding for themselves. Along the way, her lyrical prose brings three exceptional sisters—Emily, Charlotte and Anne Brontë—to vivid, aching life as they struggle to write the masterworks that will keep them from the poorhouse and to find the love that will mend their broken hearts. A thoughtful, compelling examination of familial duty and sister love.”

—Cathy Marie Buchanan, author of The Painted Girls, The Day the Falls Stood Still, and Daughter of Black Lake

“A mesmerizing and heartrending novel of sisterhood, love, and loss in Victorian England. The author's lyrical prose, rich with period detail, invites the reader to lose themselves on the moors and amid the waking dreams of the Brontë sisters. A poignant and fresh take on some of the most famous female authors in history. I couldn't put it down.”

—Heather Webb, USA Today and International bestselling author of Queens of London

“Very few authors possess the magical ability of Stephanie Cowell to travel back in time and so wonderfully conjure up the past for us. With careful plotting, a soft touch, amazing detail and clever conversation, she makes it possible for us to feel we are witnessing the story unfolding. And oh, the atmosphere! The Brontës come alive in this beautiful, poignant, elegant and so very readable tale. Just exquisite.”

- NYT bestseller, M.J. Rose

“In The Man in the Stone Cottage, Stephanie Cowell breathes life into her versions of the Bronte siblings in the crucial last few years of their all-too-short personal and professional lives. A tender treatment of literature's most-loved heroines.”

- Finola Austin, author of Brontë’s Mistress

“The Man in the Stone Cottage is an exquisitely written novel about the people, events, and the lonely and haunted landscape that shaped the lives of the Brontë sisters. But it is much more than a biographical novel. The genius of the book lies in its dreamlike exploration of Emily and Charlotte Brontë’s imaginations. The Man in the Stone Cottage mirrors the tenderness, mystery, and otherworldly consciousness of the Brontë sisters’ works. I have twice visited the Brontë Parsonage Museum at Haworth, and even experienced the Yorkshire moors during a chilling fog; reading Stephanie Cowell’s book was the best journey of all.”

—Katherine Kirkpatrick, author of To Chase the Glowing Hours

“The Man in the Stone Cottage is a luminous tour de force. Author Stephanie Cowell always plumbs the depths of human emotion. Here she explores the yearnings of the Brontë sisters—Charlotte and Emily—while depicting their lives with their father and siblings in nineteenth-century England. Charlotte, pragmatic though insecure, struggles to publish Jane Eyre, while enigmatic Emily finds inspiration for Wuthering Heights in a quaint hut on the Yorkshire moors. The elusive man of Cowell’s title may be part spirit and part flesh, but his presence adds mystery to this elegant, heartbreaking novel that sheds new light on two iconic literary figures.”

—Susan Dormady Eisenberg, author of One More Seat at the Round Table

“The Man in the Stone Cottage: A Novel of the Brontë Sisters by Stephanie Cowell explores the lives and loves of Charlotte and Emily Brontë. Charlotte, who craves love, has attempted to leave home, to earn money as a teacher and, perhaps, expand her horizons; she returns, disappointed, to the security of home. Emily never wants to leave. Wandering the surrounding countryside is escape enough. She does not seek love, but nevertheless, love—in the shape of a mysterious man who has come to occupy a hidden stone cottage on the moors—may find her. Cowell breathes life into these two extraordinary Brontë sisters. The tone is bittersweet. The love and support of the sisters for one another is keenly felt. The novel provides a window into the hearts and minds of these brilliant writers and then expands upon what is known with an imaginative look at what could have been.”

—Susan Coventry, author of Till Taught by Pain

“The Man in the Stone Cottage is yet another exquisite novel by the amazing Stephanie Cowell. There are few novelists whose work guarantees that rare and wonderful feeling of being gently invited into another world. It’s the feeling of knowing you are in the hands of a true story-teller, and Stephanie is one such. The Man in the Stone Cottage is the story of the Brontë sisters; who can resist? Stephanie tells their stories with fidelity to history, but especially to vibrancy of the lives of this amazing family of writers. It will definitely make you want to go back and reread Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights and delve further into the work of these brilliant sisters. A novel to treasure. You will love it!”

—Sandra Guilland, author of the Josephine B. Trilogy

“The Man in the Stone Cottage is a passionate imagining of the complex relationships of the Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. Their devotion to each other and their elderly parson father contrast richly with the secrets they keep from one another and even themselves. Cowell’s vivid portrayal of the sisters’ lives and longings on the lonely Yorkshire moors reflects the power and beauty of the landscape that birthed them. Charlotte and Emily’s voices are rendered with authenticity in lyrical prose that captures the burgeoning intelligence of these talented women who, even in their successes, are trapped by isolation and the limitations of their times.”

—Judith Lindbergh, author or Akmaral and The Thrall’s Tale