Arncliffe is a real town in Yorkshire, however it shares nothing more than a name with the fictional Arncliffe of this book. That village was entirely made up and to add insult to injury, I’ve played fast and loose with some of the geography of the region too, in order to facilitate better storytelling. The Yorkshire moors are very much as described and well worth a visit.
The four Bronte siblings, Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne, spent a large proportion of their childhood creating stories set in imaginary worlds. Charlotte and Branwell seem to have moved away from this as they grew older and perhaps outgrew their imaginary world, Angria. Emily and Anne apparently continued playing with their imaginary world, Gondal, for much longer, until Anne took a job as a governess with a rich family. Emily Bronte herself is a shadowy figure and appears not to have had much time for people in general, preferring her animals, her siblings, father and aunt, and her writing (including Gondal) to anything or anyone else. There is still debate over whether her classic novel - Wuthering Heights - is set in England or in Gondal. For the purposes of this story I’ve allowed Mrs Cranford to theorize that it is the latter. I strongly recommend reading the book and deciding for yourself!
To the best of my knowledge and research, Emily Bronte was always extremely homesick when sent away from home and therefore left as rarely as possible. While it’s not impossible that she may have stayed with friends or relatives at a neighboring vicarage, it’s fairly unlikely given the little we know of her. I’ve taken a liberty in this book by stating that she made such a visit to my fictional Arncliffe, when of course she didn’t. Any more than ‘Wuthering Heights’ was inspired by a real ghost story when it was entirely Emily Bronte’s creation. As ‘I Belong to the Earth’ is in part a homage to ‘Wuthering Heights’, I hope I can be forgiven.
Unveiled 1. . 4
For Gareth, because he asked.
We are the Pilgrims, master; we shall go
Always a little further: it may be
Beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow
Across that angry or that glimmering sea ...
The Golden Road to Samarkand - James Elroy Flecker
I Belong to the Earth (Unveiled Book 1) Page 64
