Her mother died in 1821, and Charlotte, her four sisters, Maria, Elizabeth, Emily and Anne, and her brother Branwell were left in the care of their aunt, Elizabeth Branwell. She died the next year, on 31 March 1855.Ĭharlotte Bronte was born at Thornton, Yorkshire, in 1816. She published Shirley in 1849, Villette in 1853 and in 1854 she married the Rev. Between 18 Charlotte lost her remaining siblings: Emily, Branwell and Anne. In 1847 Jane Eyre became her first published novel and met with immediate success. Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey were both published but Charlotte's novel was initially rejected. In 1846, along with Emily and Anne, Charlotte published Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell.After this Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, Anne wrote Agnes Grey and Charlotte wrote The Professor. Charlotte worked as a teacher from 1835 to 1838 and then as a governess. The children were taught at home from this point on and together they created vivid fantasy worlds which they explored in their writing. In 1824 Charlotte, Maria, Elizabeth and Emily were sent to Cowan Bridge, a school for clergymen's daughters, where Maria and Elizabeth both caught tuberculosis and died.

Her father was curate of Haworth, Yorkshire, and her mother died when she was five years old, leaving five daughters and one son.

Read moreĬharlotte Bronte was born on 21 April 1816. As industrial unrest builds to a potentially fatal pitch, can the four be reconciled? Set during the Napoleonic wars at a time of national economic struggles, Shirley (1849) is an unsentimental, yet passionate depiction of conflict between classes, sexes and generations. Shirley, meanwhile, is in love with Robert's brother, an impoverished tutor - a match opposed by her family. Robert considers marriage to the wealthy and independent Shirley Keeldar to solve his financial woes, yet his heart lies with his cousin Caroline, who, bored and desperate, lives as a dependent in her uncle's home with no prospect of a career. Struggling manufacturer Robert Moore has introduced labour saving machinery to his Yorkshire mill, arousing a ferment of unemployment and discontent among his workers. A new edition of the least well known of Charlotte Brontë's novels, but one of the most fascinating, for its engagement with the 'woman question' and the vivid depiction of Yorkshire during the Napoleonic Wars

Charlotte bronte 1849 novel