Shirley

First published in 1849, ‘Shirley’ is Charlotte Bronte's only historical novel and her most topical one. It is Bronte’s second novel, following Jane Eyre, which tells the story of two women of radically different circumstances, whose bond of friendship helps them emotionally navigate the romantic entanglements of Victorian society.

Set against the backdrop of the Luddite uprising against the Yorkshire textile industry in England during the industrial depression that followed the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. The novel is the story of mill operator Robert Moore, whose business is troubled by the economic climate; his distant cousin Caroline Helstone, for whom Robert has affections; rich heiress and landowner Shirley Keeldar; and Robert's brother Louis, a poor tutor, whom Shirley is in love with.

It is a classically romantic tale that deals with the timely themes of industrial unrest in Britain at the beginning of the 19th century and the role of women in society.

"Endurance over-goaded, stretched the hand of fraternity to sedition."
— Charlotte Bronte (Shirley)

Charlotte Brontë was born at Thornton, Yorkshire in 1816, the third child of Patrick and Maria Brontë. Her father was perpetual curate of Haworth, Yorkshire from 1820 until his death in 1861. Her mother died in 1821, leaving five daughters and a son. Charlotte was employed as a teacher from 1835 to 1838, was subsequently a governess, and in 1842 went with her sister Emily to study languages in Brussels, where during 1843 she again worked as a teacher. Charlotte’s first novel, The Professor, was rejected by several publishers and was not published until 1857. Jane Eyre was published in 1847 and achieved immediate success. In 1848 Branwell Brontë died, as did Emily before the end of the same year, and Anne in the following summer, so that Charlotte alone survived of the six children. Charlotte married in 1854 the Revd A. B Nicholls, her father’s curate, but died in March 1855.