Down The Belliard Steps

'A craze blown across the Channel from Britain to Brussels - people who meet to talk about the works of the Brontë sisters.' (From a Brussels press article about the newly-formed Brussels Brontë Group) In 1842 Charlotte and Emily Brontë arrived in Brussels to study French at the Pensionnat Heger boarding school at the bottom of the 'Belliard steps'. Their stay in the Belgian capital is the least-known episode of their lives, despite the importance of Charlotte's years in Belgium for her life and work; two of her novels ('Villette' and 'The Professor') were inspired by her time in Brussels and her love for her teacher, Constantin Heger. 'Down the Belliard Steps' tells the story of a group of enthusiasts coming together in Brussels to explore the sisters' time in the city. Beginning with her personal experience as a newcomer to 'the capital of Europe' in 2004, Helen MacEwan tells of her journey of discovery into the history of a vanished quarter of Brussels and her quest to seek