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SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO BOOK AWARDS 2023

A best historical fiction book of 2023 (The Sunday Times)

“Unbearably moving.”-Financial Times

“Enthralling.”-Victoria Hislop

“Compelling, atmospheric and raw.”-Ruth Jones, writer, actor and comedian

Isolated from society, Emily Bronte 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 Bronte 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.’

Publisher Review

“Karen Powell’s debut novel, The River Within, was a tale of class, grief and love set in 1950s Yorkshire. Her second travels further back into that county’s past and revisits the lives of its most famous writing family, the Brontes. The story of moorland isolation, early deaths and burgeoning creativity is a familiar one, but Powell, with Emily as her first-person narrator, gives it new energy, capturing the vulnerability of the three sisters and their determination to make the most of their talents.” * The Sunday Times * “Emily Bronte, vividly reimagined. Karen Powell powerfully envisions the writer’s life and the transfiguring intensity of her art. With Fifteen Wild Decembers, Powell has served her heroine loyally.” * Financial Times * “Powell summons the spirit of Emily with real finesse, in all her disdain for the world and her devotion to home and hearth.” * Independent on Sunday (Ireland~) * “I was spellbound by this fictionalised portrait, brimming with the texture of the dank, wild hills of Yorkshire, the weight and power of grief, and the contentment to be found in daring to forge one’s own path in the world. Delightful and intriguing; each sentence is so sharp, so shining.” * Elizabeth Macneal, author of Circus of Wonders * “Wild and captivating, this takes us right to the heart of the Brontes’ story of creativity, sisterhood and survival.” * Samantha Ellis, author of How To Be a Heroine * “I was completely enthralled by Karen Powell’s brilliant and imaginative recreation of the life of Emily Bronte. Its language is muscular and precise, its sympathy passionate, true and, in the end, overwhelming.” * Anthony Quinn, author of Molly & The Captain and Curtain Call * “This vivid, intimate imagining of the lives of the Bronte sisters transports us to the haunted, wild, exuberant heart of history’s most extraordinary literary family.” * Meg Rosoff, author of Friends Like These * “Interweaving meticulous research and exacting imagination, Powell has brought Emily Bronte’s thoughts and quirks, attitudes and gestures, sibling affection and rivalry alive on the page. The novel captures not only the fascinating peculiarity of the Brontes, but also the wild atmospheric weather in Yorkshire that puts a spell on everything.” * Kit Fan, author of Diamond Hill * “A haunting work. Karen Powell is a fantastic writer, particularly in her depictions of the natural world where she echoes and expands on Emily’s own genius.” * Bridget Walsh, author of The Variety Palace Mysteries * “Powell is a talent to watch.” * Lisa Appignanesi, author of Everyday Madness * “An immersive novel vividly capturing both the wildness of the North Yorkshire moors and the wildness at the heart of its inimitable protagonist.” * Tawseef Khan, author of Muslim, Actually * “The way Powell writes is poetic, and melancholic: her language is era-appropriate, the descriptions raw and full of little details that could make you suppose the book is an authentic 19th-century artefact. Fifteen Wild Decembers’ depiction of Emily’s short life feels like a stolen moment in time: she is passionate but lost in the big world, trying to navigate through the emotions and hardships of being a woman.” * Buzz Magazine * “Poetic and bleakly beautiful, and Emily emerges from the pages like a phoenix rising….Dazzling stuff. Lay your hands on a copy and make it the literary soundtrack to your autumn.” * Natasha Poliszczuk * “A dramatic and uncannily accurate reincarnation of Bronte, in which Powell deftly erases herself so that the reader is able to hear her subject’s voice loud and clear. The writing is exceptionally fine — the fields, moors and tors around Haworth with their birds, becks, animals and barns are brought to life with all the lyricism and occasional brutality of Emily’s own writings.” * Helen Moffett, author of Charlotte * “Dazzling.” * New Writing North * “I love the Bronte sisters and know their story quite well but this book really gave it a fresh and interesting edge. I reentered their lives and saw things I hadn’t seen before or things I hadn’t noticed before… I can see the passion behind the author’s choice to write this book and reconnect with this world.” * The Booktrail * “Fifteen Wild Decembers explores the connection between Wuthering Heights author Emily’s emotions and the desolate moors she loved.” * Keighley News * “Enthralling.” * Victoria Hislop * “This is an exquisite novel of rock, rain and heather, of ambition constrained by circumstance, of tragedy and passion. Vivid and moving.” * Victoria MacKenzie, author of For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain * “I turned every page of Fifteen Wild Decembers with my heart in my mouth, totally immersed. This novel captures all the magic of Emily’s wild spirit.” * Georgina Moore, author of The Garnett Girls * “It takes a special kind of writer to take a story you know and yet render it new, so that you find yourself full body sobbing at the end. That’s exactly what Karen Powell has done with Fifteen Wild Decembers, a creative reimagining of Emily Brontes life. Haunting. Beautiful.” * Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things * “Karen Powell paints with words to create pictures you can see so strongly in your mind’s eye that you want to hang the on your wall… There’s great strength and power in the narrative, sometimes forceful, and sometimes delicate and subtle… The work is evocative, nuanced and absorbing.” * Elizabeth Chadwick * “A staggering achievement that breathes new life into the familiar Bronte story. By turns meticulous, arresting and lyrical, I was captivated throughout. The writing just glimmers. At times, sitting down to read this book felt like opening up a jewellery box. Karen Powell is a rare talent.” * Adam Farrer, author of Cold Fish Soup * “Emily Bronte and her siblings have long been the fascination of many. Powell dares to take us deeper, further, capturing not only Emily’s voice, but also her mindset, her essence. Fifteen Wild Decembers is a bold, ambitious novel, but rendered subtly, in prose that doesn’t clamour to be heard but is simply, elegantly awaiting discovery.” * Sophie Parkes, author of Out of Human Sight *