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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
In 1834, Charlotte Brontë, together with her brother Branwell, created the imaginary kingdom of Angria, about which she was to write prolifically for the next five years. The five “novelettes” in this volume are the last of her Angrian tales. Written from the viewpoint of the cynical, gossipy Charles Townshend, they offer an ironic portrait of the intrigues, scandals, and passions of an aristocratic beau monde. With their varied cast of characters, the stories provide a fascinating glimpse into the mind and creative processes of the young writer who was to become one of the world’s greatest novelists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

aradish and an egg
"I opened this little [book], and, sir, I did not hesitate. No, I tasted. The change was wrought quickly. In five minutes I, who had been the most miserable wretch under that heaven, sat a rational happy man, soothed to peace of mind, to rest of body, capable of creating sweet thoughts, of tasting bliss, of dropping those fetters of anguish which had restrained me, and floating away with light brain and soaring soul into the fairest regions imagination can disclose."

Frenetique? Indeed. Reread chapter 23 of Jane Eyre. This is that Charlotte Bronte: vivid, charming, disjointed, and funny. "Stancliffe's Hotel" is hilarious, the gray pearl at the center of this collection, but each of the tales has its charms.

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Book Description
Essays by leading scholars explore the lives and tragic early deaths of the three Brontë sisters. They set two of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century :Charlotte's Jane Eyre and Emily's Wuthering Heights, in the context of the other prose and poetry of the sisters, and trace the reputation of the Brontës through history. A detailed chronology and guides to further reading are included.Download Description
Essays by leading scholars explore the lives and tragic early deaths of the three Brontë sisters. They set two of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century :Charlotte's Jane Eyre and Emily's Wuthering Heights, in the context of the other prose and poetry of the sisters, and trace the reputation of the Brontës through history. A detailed chronology and guides to further reading are included. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A Passion for Language
At first I thought, "Oh, no, not ANOTHER life of Charlotte Bronte."But this one is worthwhile: convincing and upbeat.Rather than recording day-by-day events of Charlotte's life (usually viewed as pathetic), it emphasizes the miracle of her writing.I could not follow every step of Gordon's critical readings of the novels, but . . . Gordon offers so many other insights to feast uponregarding: the importance of Charlotte's letters, the Bronte family's place in society, the views of Mrs Gaskell, Charlotte's decision to marry Arthur, and the probable cause of her death.The comparison of Jane Eyre to Catherine Earnshaw and to Giselle of the ballet is only one example of Gordon's originality. The serious reader should also look up the reviews of the Times (London) and Independent (London).

The Enigma of Charlotte Bronte
I have long considered "Jane Eyre" to be my favorite book, and I have read much of Charlotte Bronte and the writing of her sisters.These three women were enigmas in their time; they wrote with voice beyond their years and experience, and created central female characters who were strong and could hold their ground with any male character, something not deemed proper in a modest Victorian lady.Hidden behind pseudonymns, they could give voice to the shape of women to come long after they lived and since Charlotte lived the longest of the three, it is through her legacy that anything about the Brontes can be known.

Lyndall Gordon has done a remarkable job with this biography.It is not a straight-forward chronological biography in the typical sense; while it concerns itself with dates and events as they unfolded, Gordon is more concerned with the woman behind these happenings.She has been able to delve into Charlotte's life and expose a portrait much more vivid than other biographies have created.So much has been said and misrepresented about Charlotte Bronte (thanks in large part to the biased writing of Elizabeth Gaskell so soon after Charlotte's death) and Gordon examines that image while weaving the fire of Charlotte Bronte's soul and writing into a new image of an icon.

Gordon begins by tracing the roots of the Bronte family - the death of their mother at a young age, who left behind six children to a preoccupied father who only had time for his parsonage and his only son,(so preoccupied was Mr. Bronte that he did not know of the writing gifts his three daughters possessed until they presented him with published novels) - to the trials and tribulations of publishing, to the tragic deaths of all four of her sisters and her brother, to her unlikely marriage and success as an author.Gordon traces Charlotte's struggles at school and her exhaustion at being a governess, to her years in Brussels where her gift (and love) truly caught flame for the first time.She weaves back and forth between triumph and disillusion, success and heartache, happiness and depression, painting a picture of Charlotte Bronte as a passionate, fearless woman who defied the life laid out for her.

In an age when literary pursuits were not meant for females, Charlotte Bronte turned the tide.She endured criticisms of being coarse and immoral, of being plain and undignified, of being doomed to a life of spinsterhood and illness.She rose above all of these challenges and became a mix of the heroes she had created in her novels."Jane Eyre" may stand as her best work, but it would be amazing to know what else she might have been able to offer the world if her life hadn't been cut short.

huh?
Ok, I love Jane and Charlotte; but this biography is nearly unreadable. It doesn't make sense--too many vague descriptions of events and unclear suggestions of motives. If you want to learn something, most of the older biographies are written in a straightforward style.The facts haven't changed since they were published.

Charlotte Bronte Brought out of the shadows.
Lyndall Gordon does an excellent job of retelling the life of CharlotteBronte.In this book we see a different side of a woman who sinceGaskell's novel, has been pitied.In this biography we find a Charlottethat is full of life and even with the sadness and death that surrounds heris able to continue to follow her own path.She does not crumble intooblivion.Lyndall also opens up parts of Charlotte's life ignored byGaskell to protect Charlotte's image.This novel reveals a CharlotteBronte that knows passion and love not just pain and loss.This is anexcellent book for any person interested in the life of a incredible authorwho was as strong-willed as the characters she wrote.

Charlotte Bronte A Passionate Life
From the time I first read "Jane Eyre" in high school until now, some 30 years and many re-readings later, I have never come across anything that made me feel I really could comprehend the woman behind the work,until I read this book,which I finished early this morning. "JaneEyre" has always been my favorite novel... I have seen every movieadaptation, I have trudged the rainy streets of Haworth and the surroundingmoors, I have read several biographies, I have read other Bronte works. Yousee, I thought if I understood Charlotte Bronte better, I would understandmyself better, at least the part of myself that is so incredibly moved byJane Eyre at every re-reading. I was THRILLED to find a book that leavesthe strict biographical details to any of the numerous Bronte biographersand explores the soul behind the facts. It is wonderfully written in itsown right and demonstrates incredible insight and respect for the Brontegenius. Without feeling like I was being manipulated by a feminist with anagenda, I came to appreciate the incredible strength of mind and characterin a woman like Ms. Bronte, whose unique identity and voice couldn't besuppressed by her social and personal circumstances. My already profoundadmiration for Charlotte Bronte was only deepened after reading this bookby Lundall Gordon for the first time. ... Read more

Book Description

Following the tremendous popular success of Jane Eyre, which earned her lifelong notoriety as a moral revolutionary, Charlotte Brontë vowed to write a sweeping social chronicle that focused on "something real and unromantic as Monday morning." Set in the industrializing England of the Napoleonic wars and Luddite revolts of 1811-12, Shirley (1849) is the story of two contrasting heroines. One is the shy Caroline Helstone, who is trapped in the oppressive atmosphere of a Yorkshire rectory and whose bare life symbolizes the plight of single women in the nineteenth century. The other is the vivacious Shirley Keeldar, who inherits a local estate and whose wealth liberates her from convention.

A work that combines social commentary with the more private preoccupations of Jane Eyre, Shirley demonstrates the full range of Brontë's literary talent. "Shirley is a revolutionary novel," wrote Brontë biographer Lyndall Gordon. "Shirley follows Jane Eyre as a new exemplar--but so much a forerunner of the feminist of the later twentieth century that it is hard to believe in her actual existence in 1811-12. She is a theoretic possibility: what a woman might be if she combined independence and means of her own with intellect. Charlotte Brontë imagined a new form of power, equal to that of men, in a confident young woman [whose] extraordinary freedom has accustomed her to think for herself....Shirley [is] Brontë's most feminist novel."
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A work that combines social commentary with the more private preoccupations of Jane Eyre, Shirley demonstrates the full range of Brontë's literary talent. "Shirley is a revolutionary novel," wrote Brontë biographer Lyndall Gordon. "Shirley follows Jane Eyre as a new exemplar--but so much a forerunner of the feminist of the later twentieth century that it is hard to believe in her actual existence in 1811-12. She is a theoretic possibility: what a woman might be if she combined independence and means of her own with intellect. Charlotte Brontë imagined a new form of power, equal to that of men, in a confident young woman [whose] extraordinary freedom has accustomed her to think for herself....Shirley [is] Brontë's most feminist novel." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

A Tale of Two Women
At first glance, "Shirley" by Charlotte Bronte can seem a daunting read; it is nearly 650 pages long.However, the sheer artistry of Charlotte Bronte's genius makes mostly short work of the story she weaves throughout the course of this novel.Much longer than her other works, it retains her thorough intelligence of the world around her, as she comments on the society and persuasions of the day.

To say that there is one or two main characters in "Shirley" is a slight understatement.While the novel does focus on the title character, a beautiful young rich heiress who soon finds herself with marriage proposals aplenty, it also spends much of its focus on the other main female of the book, Caroline Helstone, a shy and somewhat plain girl who fears the man she loves will fall in love with Shirley and leave her destitute.The narrative weaves between these two points of view, but also of the many other characters within the book, especially the object of Caroline's eye, Mr. Robert Moore.Moore is the owner of the local mill, hit upon hard times with the Napoleonic wars stopping his means of marketing.He must also contend with mobs and rioters, upset with the industrialization that has thrown many townspeople out of jobs.

In that regard, the narrative of "Shirley" is much darker than that of Charlotte Bronte's other works.Those readers who know something about the author's life will find certain comments to spring from her actual existence, especially perhaps the similarities between her and Caroline.However, others unfamiliar with her style may find her prose wearisome at times.Indeed, there are moments when she waxes eloquently far off plot for several pages before bringing the story back to its true direction.The reader must read through several wrapping-ups before the true wrap-up of the story occurs.

Yet these slight drawbacks do not taint the book, but add to the legend that is due Charlotte Bronte.She was a gifted writer, posing as a male in a man's world to get her books published."Shirley" is full of the knowledge of its timeperiod, showing the intelligence of its author regarding the world around her.Bronte is able to offer insight and provocation without being preachy or sentimental, cloaking vindication in the form of poetic prose.

Just "OK"
After reading Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Tenant of Wildfell Hall, I have to say Shirley is a disappointment.It was long, drawn out and at times very BORING.I really had to work to finish it; the others I breezed through because they were so good. I won't go into a dissertation about the book but it does not stand up to the other Bronte work.

Another wonderful novel
This might be my favorite Charlotte Bronte yet.The plot involves so many characters, a long book, but I couldn't put it down!If you like her other books, you won't be disappointed.

Great Read!
An unpredictable plot, excellent character development, and many elements of wisdom from Charlotte Bronte.I greatly enjoyed this novel, much as I did Jane Eyre and Villette.In all honesty, this is a book that would not be for everyone.However, for those who greatly like Charlotte Bronte's works, it is a great read.

The Best of Bronte
I usually prefer Jane Austen over Charlotte Bronte, So I was surprised at how much I liked "Shirley". I definetly think that "Jane Eyre" and "Villette" are given undue credit, while "Shirley" is underrated. Though "Shirley" was a strange choice for a title, because the main character is Caroline. This was a perfect book with just the right amount of romance, tragedy, and happy endings. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Book Description

A young governess falls in love with her employer in this classic coming-of-age tale set in 19th-century England.

• A concise introduction that gives readers important background information

• A chronology of the author's life and work

• A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context

• An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations

• Detailed explanatory notes

• Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work

• Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction

• A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience

Customer Reviews (1)

nice edition of this classic
This is a nice edition of Jane Eyre. One reason I bought it was because the cover resembles Joan Fontaine, my favorite actress to portray Jane. It has some helpful introductory material, if you are teaching this novel in an English class.
One thing that's different about this is it divides the book into volumes, which my previous copy didn't do.
I think this book will be very useful as I teach the novel this year. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

What was left unsaid...
While the definitive overall Brontes biography is Juliet Barker's 'The Brontes', and the various Bronte-related works of Edward Chitham are invaluable in their own right, this still stands as an important contribution to understanding the Brontes, and Charlotte above all.

Despite its flaws, and I agree with other reviewers, that this is a rather dark picture of events, Elizabeth wrote a detailed and very sympathetic account of Charlotte's life and her relationship to her family. Her inclusion of letter content, epecially in relation to Ellen Nussey, was somewhat self-edited, and the lack of references to the romantic friendship that so clearly existed between the two women, was probably Elizabeth's attempt to protect them.

For anyone who is interested in the truth of their passionate relationship, I highly recommend Elaine Miller's detailed essay 'Through All Changes and Through All Chances' from the book Not A Passing Phase, compiled by the Lesbian History Group. The letter excerpts that Elaine includes clearly indicate that Charlotte and Ellen not only loved each other, but that they jointly expressed a long-term desire to live together 'until Death'.

When Ellen Nussey wanted to publish her own 'The Story of the Brontes' which would have included many excerpts from the hundreds of letters that Charlotte had sent her, Arthur Nicholls blocked permission, as he owned copyright to the contents of the letters, even though Ellen owned the letters themselves. Nicholls - Charlotte's husband of only nine months - also destroyed all of the literally hundreds of letters from Ellen to Charlotte, and even tried to insist that Ellen destroy all of Charlotte's letters to her, during Charlotte's lifetime.

Elizabeth is clearly no fan of Nicholls, but that is hardly surprising in view of his destruction of so much of Charlotte's personal writing material.

For an insight into the lives of Charlotte and her family and the Haworth area in that time period, this is still and always will be an important book.

The Life of Charlotte Bronte? What life?
Have tried to read Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Jane Eyre several times but found it so depressing that I couldn't get through the first chapters.I thought it would be easier on tape which, to some extent it is. However, the content is no less depressing and tragic. The family live at Howarth Parsonage, an isolated place in the north of England. There are six children, two of whom die from tuberculosis and consumption in their school years; the mother dies young;the brother dies of alcoholism and Emily and Ann both die in their 20s. The tragedy is that of extraordinary talent snuffed out so early in life.
The majority of the book is taken up with the the lonely life of Charlotte and her selfish father, which, try as she might, Elizabeth Gaskell cannot make interesting. Charlotte's trips outside the confines of Howarth are few and far between but one very rarely hears her complain. She finally has a few years of married life before she too dies young. I have alway loved reading the Bronte sisters novels - this autobiography shows to what extent these girls live in their imagination and how rich those imaginations are. Being so isolated from society, reveals why their novels are so dark and and sinister - herein lies a book,but Elizabeth Gaskell is no psychoanalyst. A great friend and admirer of Charlotte Bronte, she prefers to emphasize her virtues and forebearance in the face of adversity and gives us little more than a hagiography of her friend. There is very little analysis, if any, of Charlotte's works; thankfully, later scholarship delves more deeply into the intricate minds of Charlotte, and her two sisters.
Being from the North of England myself, I would have perhaps felt more "connected" if the narrator had been English. Elizabeth Gaskell was from Manchester, England, and to hear Flo Gibson (as good a narrator as she might be otherwise) trying to get across the English northern accent was quite painful.
I would not recommend this work, especially if one is looking for any kind of critical analysis of Jane Eyre, Shirley or Villette.

At the intersection of time and eternity
Mrs. Gaskell understood a man's or woman's life to be lived within a social and natural context -- and her deployment of anecdotes and impressions of the North of England in the early pages of this book is captivating.But she also understood us to be souls, present to but distinct from God.Hence, even though in a few instances Gaskell's facts may been correctible (which the editor has done for us in this Penguin Classics edition), she is concerned with truth, and this gives readers the opportunity (rarely offered by modern entertainments) to escape from the trivial.

A Beautiful Biography!
A very nicely written biography by Mrs. Gaskell about the life of her friend Charlotte Bronte, although most of the content was made up of letters written either by or to Charlotte Bronte rather than Mrs. Gaskell's own writings. Still this is a very concise book containing mostly everything that an ordinary reader, or well, a beginner of the Bronte novels, should know about this famous family. Nonetheless at some point of the book, I do find Mrs. Gaskell a bit too subjective, especially when it comes to the depiction of Charlotte's brother Branwell Bronte and his downfall. But consider the fact that this book was written only within one and a half year, with Mrs. Gaskell herself alone traveling all the way from Manchester to Haworth, and then to Brussel, doing all the necessary researches and interviews on her own, I must say that this is just an awesome piece of work!! And just as what Patrick Bronte himself had said about this biography, 'It is every way worthy of what one Great Woman, should have written of Another...it ought to stand, and will stand in the first rank, of Biographies, till the end of time'.

One more word though. From a more scholarly point of view, however, I think so far the 'best' biography on the Brontes should be Juliet Barker's 'The Brontes'. If, after reading this biography written by Mrs. Gaskell, you still want to know more about the Brontes, then I will say: go and buy this other book by Juliet Barker and you definitely will never regret it!

SAD BUT BRILLIANT
Such sad lives were led by the the Bronte's, loneliness, loss, despair, all were experienced and fed into the imaginations on charlotte, emily and anne. This book is a brilliant book by E C Gaskell (who i normally dontreally like), it is basically a collection of letters by charlotteand agreat narrative, when speaking of the deaths of emily, anne and charlotte,i actually felt tears in my eyes! ... Read more

Book Description
This final volume of Charlotte Bronte's letters covers the period from 1852, when she eventually completed Villette, to March 1855, when she died at the early age of 38. Published in January 1853, Villette reflects experiences and moods conveyed with sharp immediacy in the correspondence of the preceding years. In December 1852 one of her most dramatic letters described the crucial event in her private life: Arthur Nicholls's proposal of marriage, when, 'shaking from head to foot' he made her feel 'what it costs a man to declare affection where he doubts response.' Mr Bronte's furious opposition to the match was not overcome until 1854, the year of Charlotte's marriage on 29 June. In the all too few months before her death, she came to love and trust Nicholls, her 'dear boy' and her 'tenderest nurse' during her final illness.The letters in this volume include on the one hand Charlotte's brief curt note to George Smith on his engagement to Elizabeth Blakeway, and on the other a newly discovered letter describing with cheerful briskness Charlotte's purchase of her own wedding trousseau. Complete texts of letters previously published inaccurately or in part provide valuable insight into her other friendships. Those to Elizabeth Gaskell in particular have an important bearing on our interpretation and assessment of her Life of Charlotte, published early in 1857; and the inclusion of Harriet Martineau's angry comments on the Life ('Hallucination!' [Friendship] was never attained.') enhances our understanding of Charlotte's break with Martineau after her review of Villette. The redating of a letter has shown that the long estrangement between Charlotte and her oldest friend, Ellen Nussey, caused by Ellen's hostility to the idea of Charlotte's marriage with Nicholls, lasted without a break from July 1853 until late February 1854. The volume includes some of the touching notes from Charlotte's bereaved husband and father, written in response to condolences on her death. Mrs Gaskell's graphic account of her visit to Haworth in 1853 forms one of the appendices; others provide the texts of fragmentary letters, identify known forgeries, and list addenda and corrigenda for volumes 1 and 2. ... Read more

Book Description

"Villette! Villette! Have you read it?" exclaimed George Eliot when Charlotte Brontë's final novel appeared in 1853. "It is a still more wonderful book than Jane Eyre. There is something almost preternatural in its power."

Arguably Brontë's most refined and deeply felt work, Villette draws on her profound loneliness following the deaths of her three siblings. Lucy Snowe, the narrator of Villette,flees from an unhappy past in England to begin a new file as a teacher at a French boarding school in the great cosmopolitan capital of Villette. Soon Lucy's struggle for independence is overshadowed by both her freindship with a wordly English doctor and her feelings for an autocratic schoolmaster. Brontë's strikingly modern heroine must decide if there is any man in her society with whom she can live and still be free.

"Villette is an amazing book," observed novelist Susan Fromberg Schaeffer. "Written before psychoanalysis came into being, Villette is nevertheless a psychoanalytic work—a psychosexual study of its heroine, Lucy Snowe. Written before the philosophy of existentialism was formulated, the novel's view of the world can only be described as existential. . . . Today it is read and discussed more intensely than Charlotte Brontë's other novels, and many critics now beleive it to be a true master-piece, a work of genius that more than fulfilled the promise of Jane Eyre." Indeed, Virginia Woolf judged Villette to be Brontë's "finest novel."

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Left by harrowing circumstances to fend for herself in the great capital of a foreign country, Lucy Snowe, the narrator and heroine of Villette, achieves by degrees an authentic independence from both outer necessity and inward grief. Charlotte Brontë's last novel, published in 1853, has a dramatic force comparable to that of her other masterpiece, Jane Eyre, as well as strikingly modern psychological insight and a revolutionary understanding of human loneliness. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (59)

Different, but for a reason
I came to "Villette" after having read and fallen in love with "Jane Eyre".When I first began reading "Villete" I knew that I should expect a long exposition leading to a thrilling climax.While the climax did not begin until about page 400, I was not disappointed.Lucy Snowe, while eccentric, speaks to feelings of loneliness that can be extrapolated far beyond this novel.I also found it gratifying that the relationship between Lucy and M. Paul - if rather sudden in its appearance - seemed of a deeper and more genuine sort than that between Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester."Villette" is not the sweeping romance with a happy ending like "Jane Eyre".I was somewhat disappointed with the ending until, shortly after completing the book, I was perusing a biography of Charlotte Bronte from my college's library and discovered just how intensely personal the story of "Villette" was.In fact, the biography used excerpts from "Villette" to illuminate the relationship between Charlotte Bronte and M. Heger, a schoolmaster in Brussels.Now I appreciate how insightful "Villette" is for anyone wishing to get to know Charlotte Bronte better.

P.S. Get an edition with notes that translate the French phrases.You'll lose whole chunks of dialogue without the notes unless you can read French.

much ado over nothing
too much French; too much detail. slow reading. amazing command of language. thin on plot and action.

I cannot say it better...
"All these weary days, I have not for one hour forgotten you." -- Lucy Snowe in Charlotte Bronte's Villette.

Introducing Charlotte Bronte - Beyond Jane Eyre
I think it's safe to say that most of the people who have read "Villette" probably read "Jane Eyre" first. I know that I did. In such cases, "Villette" may come as a slight surprise. While still like "Jane Eyre" in the sense that much of the story tells of the character's history, includes a strange sort of "love" story, and has a series of fascinating characters, "Villette" feels less about the narrator (Lucy Snowe) than about the other characters.

Let me clarify. While the story IS about Lucy Snowe, there are parts that revolve around her friends. These parts are thoroughly enjoyable as these characters are all so vivid and clear. Everything is easy to imagine and written in such a clear fashion. The plot is intriguing, and parts actually made me laugh aloud in surprise. It's a surprising book. The way everything ties in is done so well. "Villette" deserves a wider audience and greater fame than it has. It rivaled "Jane Eyre", and perhaps surpassed it.

While the ending is the place where most people lower their scores, I personally find it brilliant. It is a vague, ambiguous ending that leaves the reader confused, disoriented, and intrigued. What better way to end a book than mystery? Perhaps not a mystery, but we're left trying to figure it out. Unfortunately, there is no answer, so the romantics will choose a happy ending, and the pessimists a sorrow-filled one.

"Villette" has a whole host of characters. It starts out with children - laughing, teasing, quite adorable children. Later there are the wealthy snob characters, the generous, yet suspcious, motherly characters, the handsome, kind young men, the sweet, and beautiful young women, and the annoying yet lovable colleague (one of my favorites!). Each character has their own spark, their own flaws, and their own crowning virtue and reason for attention. Lucy, in the center of this all, is also an interesting character, though occasionally weak and sometimes a little too fluttery for my taste. Then again, tastes vary. You'll have to see for yourself. (M. Paul is totally the coolest, by the way)

WARNING: Much of this book is in French. Keep a French dictionary handy.

"Villette" is a purely enjoyable book. While some parts seemed to drag on and needed extra attention and patience (not to be read while tired! You'll find yourself skimming over pages, yawning), the final, overall impression is a favorable one. This book deserves the name, "classic". It's a great read, and you're sure to enjoy it, especially if you liked "Jane Eyre".

Enjoy!

Another lovely tale from Bronte
Another semi-autobiographical tale from Charlotte Bronte, based upon her time spent teaching in Belgium. This is not a novel of page turning excitement, but a lovely tale of one woman's battle to maintain her independence.

It's very interesting how the author brings characters in and out of her tale, and ties them all together in the end. Along with that, Bronte's gorgeous prose and all those large words that make you want to go running for the dictionary.

A lovely tale, one to savour like a fine red wine or chocolate, and an old classic worth rediscovering (or to discover for the first time). If you enjoyed Jane Eyre this is worth checking out. ... Read more

Book Description
In this volume we share Charlotte Bronte's experience for four crucial years. The success of Jane Eyre and the strange power of Wuthering Heights made the 'brothers Bell' the 'universal theme of conversation'; but privately the family endured the deaths of Branwell Bronte in September and Emily in December 1848, followed by Anne's in May 1849. Haunted by the fear that she also would succumb, Charlotte found salvation in writing Shirley, published in October 1849, and comfort in her friendship and correspondence with Ellen Nussey, with her publishersDSespecially George SmithDSwith Mrs Gaskell, and (for a time) Harriet Martineau. She may also have received a proposal of marriage from Smith, Edler's manager, James Taylor. ... Read more

Book Description
Set during the Napoleonic wars at a time of national economic struggles, Shirley is an unsentimental yet passionate depiction of conflict among classes, sexes, and generations. Struggling manufacturer Robert Moore considers marriage to the wealthy and independent Shirley Keeldar, yet his heart lies with his cousin Caroline. Shirley, meanwhile, is in love with Robert’s brother, an impoverished tutor. As industrial unrest builds to a potentially fatal pitch, can the four be reconciled? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A very engaging read!
I loved this book, though admittedly it reads a bit like a rough draft with several stories which are not very well integrated. In the introduction, Bronte claims Shirley is anything but a romance, and indeed the first few chapters are so dry (focusing on the very minor and not very interesting characters of the vicars and other religious personnel) that one needs patience to continue reading.

Indeed this is understandable given that Charlotte's beloved sisters Anne and Emily and her beloved but wayward brother Branwell all died the year she wrote the first half of the novel, and she was shutting down emotionally and withdrawing from the world. Later when she wrote the last half, she was past the deepest stage of grief.

Bronte also doesn't introduce her heroine Shirley until 1/3 of the way through the novel, establishes considerable interest in the character of Robert Moore, and then has him disappear most of the second half of the novel, and introduces another major character, Robert's brother in the last portion of the book.

Finally, one sometimes has to strain to believe that individuals at this time really spoke as these characters spoke - especially the men when they on rare occasion pour out their hearts to other men in lengthy poetic prose. But often the prose of Bronte's dialogue is quite delicious and makes one wish that writers today had such a flair for such eloquent, emotionally expressive language.

The strong point of the novel: Charlotte Bronte excels in letting us into the mind and hearts of her two heroines, Caroline and Shirley, as well as in painting portraits of several of other characters, especially Robert Moore. Her rich attunement to the subtleties of the inner life of feeling (especially falling in love and the roller coast ride of affectionate rapport alternating with anguish-inducing withdrawal) and the innuendos of relationships between women and women, and men and women, is notable. Her portrayals of her primary characters are so compelling that her readers begin to deeply care about them and their happiness. The relationship between Robert and Caroline is particularly engaging, and likely to lead the reader to yearn, along with Caroline, for Robert to stand firm in his affections and not retreat into his very real and troublesome business and financial concerns.

The political subplot is also enlightening - a basically good man, Robert Moore, being drawn almost to bankruptcy while needing to industrialize his mill in order to remain in business, and as a result laying off workers and inciting a luddite rebellion against him. (Readers who are intrigued by this theme, might also enjoy Gaskell's North and South - and especially the BBC North and South film available on dvd). Bronte doesn't integrate the political plot very well with the novel, but socio-economic factors considerably influence Robert's motives and relationships more and more as the story progresses. They also lend historical interest to the novel, and a bit of substance beyond the local color of minor individuals, the relationships between the main characters, and the very heartfelt inner life of Caroline.

Although most other readers find the book slow reading, I in contrast could barely put it down.......but did skip over the "boring" parts resulting from too many minor characters (especially of a religious nature) being given too much space in the novel. But the stories of Caroline, Robert and Shirley are so engaging that the reader may indeed find the novel truly delightful, and the conclusion likewise highly satisfying.

Probably not Ms. Bronte's objective....
At the beginning of Shirley, Ms. Bronte addressess the reader by telling him/her not to expect a romantic tale.After the first couple of chapters, which give a general idea of the community, Bronte focuses on the two main love interests.She addresses serious concerns about the Luddite Riots and flaws in religious organization, but I see the novel as ultimately, a romance.Less Cinderella-esque than Jane Eyre, but still about self-denial and facing reality.The book has two heroines- Shirley is not introduced until almost halfway through.

A Very Slow Read: 5 Stars With Reservations
This is an interesting novel but it is not a good purchase for the general reader. The Penguin version has a good introduction by Lucasta Miller with a number of interesting bits of information and notes on the novel and the Bronte sisters in general.

This novel was published in 1849 and it follows "Jane Eyre" in 1847. Readers will be very disappointed if they expect to find a similar book to "Jane Eyre" since the book is not a compelling read. The book is good, but it is very diffuse with too much talk and not enough action. It seems to wander for the first 200 pages or so and then it picks up a bit as it follows the lives of the two female characters Shirley Keeldar and Caroline Helstone - after they are introduced part way through the novel. Up to their introduction, the novel drifts as the author jumps from one character to the other: in the opening chapters it is centered on a few members of the clergy and a struggling mill owner. The novel could be called "Caroline" since she and Shirley are equally important to the story as it evolves later in the book.

Charlotte Bronte has attempted to create a historical novel that describes the life in northern England during the Napoleonic wars. Mostly she describes the lives of two women starting around page 200, but it evolves by the end into something similar to a Jane Austen novel. In addition to these two female characters, we have various clergy and merchants brought into the story to permit the author to inject political and social commentary. Bronte is a conservative feminist and we see those ideas in some of her characters and the story.

In the beginning on page 1, Bronte warns the reader that this is not a light and entertaining novel. She says: "Do not anticipate sentiment, poetry, and reverie." That is not quite accurate since the book does contain poetry and by the last chapter- 600 pages later - it seems to evolve into a conventional but slow paced novel; she dwell on the marriage of the two female characters in the last chapter.

Following on the success of "Jane Eyre," the author did not have any trouble getting her manuscript published. In retrospect it could have used a good edit. Shirley does not appear until page 189, and one wonders if she was selected after the fact. It starts off as a commentary on the social and political times, but is carried for the last 400 pages by the lives of the two female protagonists. Some critics think that Bronte was distracted by the death of her two sisters, Emily and Anne, during the writing and that is a partial explanation for the form of the novel and its lack of focus.

So, in summary, this is an interesting novel but not a great read. It is a book more for Bronte fans rather than someone looking for a good novel for entertainment.
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