Icon Books scoops historian Houghton’s life of Charlotte Brontë through her clothes

Icon Books has scooped up the rights to cultural historian Eleanor Houghton’s biography of Charlotte Brontë, Material Witness, which explores the famous author’s life through her surviving clothing. 

Ellen Conlon, senior commissioning editor, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Liza DeBlock at Mushens Entertainment, in an exclusive submission, for publication in June 2024. Meanwhile, audio rights have been sold to W F Howes. 

The publisher said: “Although nearly 170 years have passed since Charlotte Brontë died, witnesses to her life still survive. This innovative biography finally gives voice to the dresses, corsets, bonnets, shawls and many other garments that were present as she penned the first lines of Jane Eyre, as she walked the cobbled streets of Haworth with her sisters, as she dined with William Makepeace Thackeray at his home in London or as she joined Arthur Bell Nicholls at the altar in the summer of 1854. Powerful as their stories are, their testimonies have remained unheard – until today.” 

Houghton has spent many years researching Charlotte Brontë’s garments, housed at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, where an exhibition based on her work is currently on display. 

Conlon said: “This is a fascinating new take on Charlotte Brontë, and one that I know is going to be appreciated by avid fans of her work and those with a keen interest in Victorian culture and society alike. Eleanor is the perfect author for the book, and I am so pleased to be bringing her to Icon’s list.” 

Houghton said: “I am delighted to be working with Icon Books on Material Witness: Charlotte Brontë’s Life Through Clothes. As the astonishing secrets hidden within her surviving wardrobe are revealed, a real, raw, three-dimensional woman emerges – one who shatters myths and challenges our long-held preconceptions of this beloved author.”