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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

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Readable Classics gently edits the great works of literature, retaining their essence and spirit, and making them more enjoyable and less frustrating to the modern reader.Jane Eyre, a novel of stunning power, romance and suspense, was an instant bestseller in 1847. It follows the spellbinding journey of a poor orphan girl who overcomes cruelty, loneliness, starvation and heartbreak on her quest for independence.Her passionate romance with rich, brooding Mr. Rochester, and her discovery of his devastating secret, forces her to choose between love and self-respect.Jane Eyre is the story of every woman who struggles for equality and dignity in a society that wants to deny her that right--as true in Victorian England as it is today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

A good read
"Readable Classics gently edits the great works of literature, retaining their essence and spirit, and making them more enjoyable and less frustrating to the modern reader."
Reader, I was not optimistic about the consequences of a `gentle' editing. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Rather than a condensation, the result is what would happen if Ms. Bronte were to bring her manuscript to a editor today. Surprisingly, this has not made the work seem anachronistic.
I remain uneasy about this sort of posthumous editing, but I enjoyed reading the book. And, of course, it will make the novel more accessible to students. More important, it remains a great `readable' novel.
I don't like the "Readable Classic" moniker, since it implies that the original book was not readable. But then again, perhaps now I'll finally finish Moby Dick, which is available in this series.
Judge for yourself at [...] ,where chapters are available for reading.

I was not let down!

Jane Eyre in all of its original splendor has been brought to readable classics.The original version has been adapted only to update the language to make it easier for the modern reader of today to understand.This classic beloved tale of the orphan Jane Eyre will captivate you and keep you reading until the end.Jane Eyre, a orphan who is taken into custody by her uncle after her parents death, and ten years after his death sent away to school by her unloving, unkind aunt is everything the original manuscript is.Jane thrives and learns at school.She becomes a teacher and then a governess under her master Mr. Rochester and falls in love only to learn his shattering secret.Her life takes a turn and later reconnects to her past.She finds true happiness where she belongs.

I loved every minute of this book.Though I have read Jane Eyre multiple times before, I was able to see this novel in a new light, due to the let down of a language barrier.Our vocabulary does not consist of the formalities in 1847.We do not converse on the same level, more so we discuss more freely and openly today.The novel in its new form is everything Charlotte Bronte gave to her 1847 readers, but updated for ease in understanding for today's reader.

This is a must read!I am a firm believer that you should read the original at some point in your life.However, if you have ever read Jane Eyre or if you have had trouble understanding the original this readable classic will draw you in and keep you spell bound to the end.I highly suggest this book to any reader. It is a wonderful classic novel. I look forward to reading and expanding my library to include other readable classics.

Definitely a Readable Classic
This Readable Classics version of Jane Eyre really surprised me. I won this as a Member's Giveaway on [...], and I was suspicious of a book that "gently" edits classic literature. Part of the joy of literature is the ability of the author to use language to make the story beautiful. However, I found none of this missing in this version of Jane Eyre. The story was both readable and beautifully told.

For those unfamiliar with the Jane Eyre, the story centers around the title character, who is a orphan girl forced to live with an aunt and cousins who do not love her. She grows to become a woman who falls in love a man who loves her but is above her social status, and there is great mystery surrounding him and the strange people that live in his manor. The novel is part Dickens and part Austen in its portrayal of nineteenth century economic and social classes and its portrayal of nineteenth century romance. I highly recommend this version for any modern reader looking to enjoy such a model who questions whether they really want to read Victorian era literature. Readable Classics takes the source material and makes it modern with out losing its beauty.

A classic for a new generation
The Readable Classic Jane Eyre was nothing less than a treat to read. Lightly editing the original manuscript so that it is an easier task for today's reader, Wayne Josephson opens the door for a whole new generation of people to love this classic tale. Mr. Josephson has kept the story true to it's roots while allowing a easier read for those who are not exactly comfortable with the normal Bronte style.

The classic gothic novel Jane Eyre, a biography of the title character, is a chronological tale of heartache, hardship and love that can bare all things.A tale, full of sorrow and adversity follows Miss Eyre from an awkward and peculiar child, to an opinionated and strong young woman.

The story begins when Jane is a small girl living with her aunt and cousins in Gateshead Hall. Orphaned as a baby, Jane has lived with her uncle's family since infancy. Not long after Jane comes to live with them, her uncle dies, but not before making her aunt promise to keep Jane on as "one of her own." Her Aunt the menacing Mrs. Reed, despises Jane and her different nature, as she allows her children to torment the girl. It is not long before a painful confrontation with her cousin John, forces a small Jane to defend herself and earning a night in the infamous "red room."

After that night it is not long that Mrs. Reed sends Jane off to boarding school, the dark and dreary Lowood school for girls, where the girls are forced to live off meager rations of food and hearty helpings of bible study. It is there where Jane makes her first friend, and in doing so feels for the first time in her young life the joy of acceptance.

During her time at Lowood, she begins to grow from odd girl into a self-assured young woman. It is after being there for eight years, six as a student and two as a teacher, that she becomes restless and is ready to embark on her journey into the world. By placing an advertisement to procure a new position as a governess Jane is accepted into the grand estate of Thornfield. There she meets the mysterious Mr. Rochester, and in doing so,is swept away into one of the most famous love stories in literary history.

The Readable Classic Jane Eyre is a story that will captivate your romantic soul. The light editing of Wayne Josephson has allowed the reader to focus on the beautiful tale of one Miss Jane Eyre instead of being tripped up by the sometimes difficult original text.

Jane Eyre's essence remains...
Most people already know the plot of this Victorian classic, so I won't go into unnecessary details.For those of you who want a "readable" version of this novel to give to people who either don't read a great deal of classics or are starting out with their reading, or perhaps you're thinking of giving the book to a child or teen, then this version is a great find.

I had trepidations about this book.What if the wonderful narrative and dialogue are stripped away?But that does not happen.Yes, the narrative is a little less wordy than the original, but the essence of Jane Eyre remains.Truth is, I did not miss the original, because it didn't feel different to me.It still contains the dialogue that I love, especially the ones between Jane and Mr. Rochester, and the story flows as wonderfully as ever.So, yes, I suggest you give this edition to a beginner.I am sure he or she will fall in love with this memorable classic. ... Read more

Product Description
These letters give an insight into the life of a writer whose novels continue to be bestsellers. They reveal much about Charlotte Bront:e's personal life, her family relationships, and the society in which she lived. Many of her early letters are written with vigour, vivacity, and an engaging aptitude for self-mockery. In contrast, her letters to her "master", the Belgian schoolteacher Constantin Heger, reveal her intense, obsessive longing for some response from him. Other letters are deeply moving, when Charlotte endures the agony of her brother's and sisters' untimely deaths. We learn also of the progress of her writing, including the astonishing success of Jane Eyre, and of her contacts with her publishers, including the young George Smith; and we recognize in her letters the life-experiences which are transmuted into the art of her novels. Contemporary society is brilliantly described in her letters from London, when she writes of her encounters with famous writers and with critics of her novels. We hear too of her visits to art galleries, operas, and the Great Exhibition of 1851 at the Crystal Palace. Dramatic letters written in December 1852 convey the "turbulence of feeling" in the Haworth curate Arthur Nicholls's proposal of marriage to her and in Mr Bront:e's violent reaction to it; and we subsequently hear of her secret correspondence with her suitor, her father's eventual consent, and her tragically brief happy marriage, cut short by her death in March 1855. ... Read more

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"... Boumelha offers fascinating analyses of Brontë's work and of feminist criticism of Brontë." -- Choice

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The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Santa Catalina Island (Calif.); American fiction; California; Fiction / General; Fiction / Literary; Fiction / Romance / General; Fiction / Romance / Contemporary; History / General; Literary Criticism / American / General; ... Read more

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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 (8)

If you are expecting passion and stimulus and melodrama - forget it!
Bronte's Shirley was written two years after Jane Eyre took Victorian England by storm. Some reviews were harsh and those who cared for the beloved author took care to hide reviews which might bring tears to her eyes.

Shirley is entirely different from Jane Eyre. Set during the Napoleonic wars, it focuses on a group of individuals, instead of one heroine like she did in Jane Eyre.

If you are a devoted Bronte fan like myself, I urge you to not let the first few chapters keep you from the gold that is not far behind. The first half of the book is rather trying. One begins to wonder why the novel was entitled Shirley since no such character appears until a few hundred pages. Instead, the novel focuses on a pair of rude and gossipy curates and the troubles of mill owner Robert Moore. It takes a while, but slowly all players in the novel are gradually introduced.

The character of Shirley Keedlar was in fact inspired by Charlotte Bronte's sister, Emily, author of Wuthering Heights. Shirley is a beautiful but fiery heiress who bewitches and impacts many lives throughout the novel. Bronte claimed that Shirley Keedlar lives the life that Emily might have lived had she been happy and healthy.

As I read the book, I attempted to piece together which characters were inspired by Bronte's real aquaintances. It is well known that the characters in Shirley were inspired from a small pool of people Charlotte Bronte socialized with. When her novel was released, many people recognized themselves in the novel, she was highly embarassed, but most of the people who inspired the characters found it all very amusing.

I was not wrong when I assumed that Caroline Helston, an orphan living with her uncle in a desolate parsonage has a little bit of Charlotte in her. Caroline secretly loved her cousin, Robert Moore, who unaware of her feelings, hurts her deeply by his aloofness.

The first part of the book was a little dull, but at one point in the novel it becomes impossible to put down. Bronte fans will see so much of our beloved novelist in Caroline that you won't be able to resist losing your heart to her.

When Charlotte Bronte began writing this novel, she found it incredibly difficult to write. However, the death of her brother and sisters left a void that only writing could fill. This becomes apparent in the heartfelt manner the last half of the book was written. Jane Eyre is most Bronte fans favorite novel, but Charlotte found Shirley superior to Jane Eyre. The latter is still my favorite, but anyone who is a fan of Jane Eyre must read this wonderful novel, which was written during such an emotional time in Charlotte Bronte's life.

Written with poetic prose and good character development.
No one writes books like this anymore, with such poetic prose throughout. It is a well written book, with many flaws... too many to mention. The story is predictable and weak at times. Charlotte Bronte loves her professor/student love relationships once again. It's almost like a fetish to her. Since the first review of this book, is what I would have said, I'll let readers refer to that and just add that it's a worthy read, but dull at times. I did like the forceful Louis at the end, as it's almost a Taming of the Shrew type of operation he performs, as it is seductive and sexual. However, you are left to wonder why Shirley gives up much for any man, including her self esteem.

The Best of the Brontes
To a reader who had no knowledge of Charlotte Brontë, other than as the author of Jane Eyre, the beginning of this book would present a challenge. Such a reader would be surprised at the depth of the story and its seeming disregard of all romantic notions. Instead of introducing us to some pretty, sweet heroine, we are faced with the dangers of mob violence and the harshness of the main hero, the miller, Robert Moore. Politics also makes an entrance in the first few chapters, and the reader will find that the political and religious differences between the characters play an important role in the story.

This is not to say that Shirley is not a romantic story. There are passages of such longing and despair, and even of the hope of love, that actually made me weep. The romance in this story is not petty or superficial. For those who feel that the object of their love is out of reach or is uncaring, there is utter heartbreak and the danger of wasting away. None of this feels contrived, however. Both the women and the men suffer almost equally, which feels more true to life.

Another focus of this book is the oppression of women. There are many characters, both male and female, that object to the idea of women taking an active role in the public world. Women were confined to the home, and they were thought not to possess the mental capacity for business or politics. The two heroines, Caroline Helstone, the niece of a misogynistic rector, and Shirley Keeldar, the independent owner of substantial property, both, in their own separate ways, rebel against the restrictions that society has put on them. Caroline, rather than waste away in her uncle's rectory, quietly strives for some purpose in life, and determines to become a governess. Shirley, due to her more elevated place in society, forces the men around her, including Caroline's uncle and her tenant, Robert Moore, to take her seriously as a participant in the defense of her property, which includes the besieged mill run by Moore. She also rejects several suitable offers of marriage, declaring her intent to marry only for love.

This book definitely does not focus on any one character. Shirley herself isn't introduced until about halfway into the book, and Caroline, Robert, and other principal characters go missing for chapters at a time. The result is a deeply felt story about a certain place in a volatile time, with all of the uncertainty and danger that the characters faced. There is no lack of character development; indeed, one gets to understand all of them. I recommend this book to any fan of nineteenth century literature, or to any history buff who is interested in learning about the personal side of the economic crisis in England during the Napoleonic Wars.

Fabulous Read...if you like George Eliot's books you'll love this.
O.k. So, this isn't a perfectly constructed book. During the writing of this novel, Charlotte Bronte had her entire family dying around her so I can hardly blame her for different parts of the book having different tones. DONT LET THE FIRST CHAPTERS PUT YOU OFF! They're a little dry --> but it flourishes as it bounds along.

The main oddity to the novel is the fact that the people that are set up in the very beginning, are not alluded to again [e.g. the vicars], and the people that we get to know and love in the middle of the book [Caroline and Robert] are not necessarily the focus at the end of the book. There are also strong characters that are set up in some chapters and not really developed into a storyline later on, e.g. Mr Yorke.

The story is wrriten similar to a George Eliot's style -->so if you like her plots etc, then you'll probably really enjoy this. Think Middlemarch meets Daniel Deronda.

HOWEVER, caveats aside - the book is fantastic. You don't get to read prose like Charlotte's everyday. Honestly, that woman could be having the worst writing day of her life and still leave all the modern writers for dead. She really captures characters and lanscapes in a way that is truly beautiful. Shirley the girl is wonderful, and you won't be able to help falling in love with her. She really is a memorable [and very progressive] character.

Bronte warns at the start that the book is not romantic in nature, but I beg to disagree. The story revolves around Robert - a struggling mill owner, Caroline, a young girl who lives with her disinterested uncle, and Shirley, a rich, strong-willed, beautiful heiress. In the mix is also Shirley's ex-governess and Robert's intellectual brother, Louis Moore. The story is set around the time of the industrial revolution in England [earlt 1800s] and deals with the difficulties faced by the different sets of society during the time.

I've got a few quotes that I loved:

"the minds of the girls [caroline and shirley] being toned in harmony often chimed very sweetly together"

"[Mrs Sympson]...had been brought up on a narrow system of views, starved on a few prejudices - a mere handful of bitter herbs; a few preferences, soaked till their natural flavour was extracted, and with no seasoning added in the cooking; some excellent principles, made up in a stiff crust of bigotry difficult to digest"

Can't get much better than that imo :)

Shirley is not as good as Jane Austen or Jane Eyre but is still a good book
Charlotte Bronte's condition of England novel "Shirley" wa published following her big literary hit "Jane Eyre." The novel has always had mixed reviews and is slow moving and episodic in content.
The first part of the novel deals with the budding love between Caroline Helstone and Robert Moore. Caroline is the niece of a sober minded clergyman the Rev. Helstone. During the course of the tale she learns that Shirley's lady maid Mrs. Pryor is her mother. Caroline is painted in colors much like those of Charlotte Bronte. Like Charlotte she too plans on becoming a governess, lives in a restricted stait-laced Calvinist home and is a Tory in politics. Caroline loves the handsome Belgian born mill owner Robert Moore. Moore is not as well drawn as Bronte's Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre or sister Emily Bronte's Byronic antihero "Heathcliff" in Wuthering Heights.
The second half of the book deals with Caroline's best friend the wealthy Shirley Keeldar who is based on the strong masculine and forceful character of Emily Bronte. Shirley is courted by several country swains but falls in love with the impecunious tutor Louis Moore, the brother of mill owner Robert Moore.
The only real action of the story occurs when Robert Moore's mill is attacked by a mob of workers. The novel is set in the time of the Napoleonic wars of the early nineteenth century when England suffered through crop failures. During the book all three of the major characters
Caroline, Shirley and Moore have health issues. Caroline is ill with a fever; Shirley is bitten by a dog and Moore is almost assasinated by an irate farmer who wants to destroy the mill.
The plot is disjointed and seems to lose focus as the reader plows through the over 500 pages of this Victorian novel. Bronte does do well in describing the Yorkshire countryside. Her use of Yorkshire dialect is well done and her knowledge of church/village life is commendable.
The book lacks the wit and repartee of a Jane Austen novel. Stick to Jane Eyre for Bronte at her best! Until the novel was published "Shirley" was a masculine name. This is a good book but not a great one. ... Read more

Product Description
Enjoy the complete novels of one of the most celebrated writers of all time.

Includes:

Jane Eyre
Shirley
Villette
The Professor

All with working TOC. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The problem with rating classics on Kindle...
Are you supposed to rate the Kindle version or the book? If rating the book, obviously it's 5 stars. But if you're rating the Kindle version itself, it can't be 5 stars without an interactive table of contents. This version taught be a lesson with gigantic compilations--you need a searchable table of contents. Three times I lost my place, and the only way I could get back to where I was, was to use the search function for text I recently read. Remember, you can't just page yourself to the desired location in a 4-novel compilation. I remove 2 stars because of that, even though Charlotte Bronte is my favorite author.

wonderful
I love Jane Eyre. It is by far my favorite book ever written.Charlotte Bronte knows how to tug at your heart strings and make you want to travel back in time. I enjoy everything she writes. This will be the best dollar you ever spend! ... Read more

Product Description
Jane Eyre is a famous and influential novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published in London, England in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. with the title Jane Eyre. An Autobiography under the pen name "Currer Bell". Harper & Brothers of New York came out with the American edition in 1848. It begins, "There was no possibility of taking a walk that day."(wikipedia) ... Read more

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This book features an introduction by Peter Merchant, Department of English and Language Studies, Canterbury Christ Church University. In devoting two years of her own life to "The Life of Charlotte Bronte", Elizabeth Gaskell wrote what with good reason has been held up as 'the first successful biography of a woman by a woman'. Charlotte Bronte (1816-55) was her 'dear friend', and a writer by whom she felt anticipated, echoed, complemented, and inspired."The Life of Charlotte Bronte" begins as an act of friendship but becomes a great work of literature in its own right. According to G. H. Lewes, 'fiction has nothing more wild, touching, and heart-strengthening to place above it'. As Lewes saw, the tale that Gaskell tells is full of dramatic contrasts: Bronte's life of claustrophobic confinement in a Yorkshire parsonage belied by the heights of imagination to which she was able to soar in her writing; the 'extraordinary genius' that seemed to have touched her whole family set against the intense suffering that was also visited upon them. In the same year, 1857, Gaskell produced two different versions of the "Life".This edition reprints the earlier, and more hard-hitting, of the two. ... Read more

Product Description
Two classic novels by the Bronte sisters, now available together on Kindle.

Jane Eyre
Wuthering Heights

With working TOC ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

No working Table of Contents
You have to page forward or page back until you reach the page you seek. This is extremely annoying. The product review claims there is a working TOC; not true.

Love these books
These are two great classics, and my daughter had to read Jane Eyre for school. She was having trouble reading her copy because we found out she was in need of new glasses. Downloading to the Kindle and making the font bigger spurred her into reading and liking the book.

My Favorite Books
I'd been wanting to read both of these stories and found these copies sitting on a shelf in my grandfather's library.Being a retired English teacher, he has all sorts of old, pretty-looking books, but these two stuck out to me.He told me I could take them and keep them as long as I took good care of them.They are two of the most beautiful books I own, and the engravings add wonderfully to the story.I own another copy of Wuthering Heights that I had to buy to annotate for school, and it just is not the same as reading it out of this book.

Exactly as I remembered
Our family owned this set when I was a child.I loved the wood engravings which inspired me to attempt to read Jane Eyre before I was old enough to comprehend most of the text.This edition started my life long love for classic literature.I would love to locate these editions for my own library as the ones from my childhood are now long gone.

A Book Lover's Must-Have!
This edition of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights is, without question, where my lifelong love of books and English literature was born. As a child, I would pore over the Fritz Eichenberg wood engravings in my mother's set and long for the day when I would be old enough to read the books. Unlike anything before or since, the Eichenberg illustrations dramatically convey the atmosphere of the Bronte novels--dark, cold, sad, and haunting. I have purchased these sets for students who also have grown to love the Brontes, so my only reservation in urging people to buy these books is that I will need a few remaining copies to buy for future students, I am sure! It would be wonderful if a publisher would undertake a re-issuing of this edition of the novels. ... Read more

Product 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

Product Description
This Halcyon Classics ebook THE LIFE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË is the first published biography of the life of the English novelist who wrote JANE EYRE under the pen name Currer Bell.

Brontë (1816-1855) completed and published only three novels during her short career (a fourth, THE PROFESSOR, was published shortly after her death).She died pregnant at age 38, possibly from severe dehydration brought on by morning sickness.

Charlotte Brontë's sisters, Anne and Emily and brother Patrick were all authors in their own right, producing several classics of English literature including WUTHERING HEIGHTS (Emily Brontë) and AGNES GREY (Anne Brontë).
... Read more

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Elizabeth Gaskell’s biography of her close friend Charlotte Brontë was published in 1857 to immediate popular acclaim, and remains the most significant study of the enigmatic author who gave Jane Eyre the subtitle An Autobiography. It recounts Charlotte Brontë’s life from her isolated childhood, through her years as a writer who had ‘foreseen the single life’ for herself, to her marriage at thirty-eight and death less than a year later. The resulting work – the first full-length biography of a woman novelist by a woman novelist – explored the nature of Charlotte’s genius and almost single-handedly created the Brontë myth. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A biography written by one of Charlotte Bronte's closest friends
Most people associate the name Elizabeth Gaskell with the novel North and South. The fact that Mrs Gaskell was an excellent novelist is indisputable, however, this work proves she was also talented biographer. Vanity Fair's Thackerary wrote of Gaskell's biography "In the whole of English literature there is no book that can compare in wide-spread interest with "Life of Charlotte Bronte" by Mrs Gaskell." The book is certainly worthy of the praise, however, it is not without flaws.

Gaskell's biography was the first biography to be written on Bronte with the consent of her father, Patrick Bronte. Although Mr Bronte consented to the biography due to the fact that Mrs Gaskell was a close friend of his daughter. Mr Bronte and Charlotte's husband decided it would be better for the public to read about Charlotte from someone who held Charlotte in such high esteem. However, the book was not without controversy.

Gaskell somewhat embellished Mr Bronte's stern character and his treatment of his daughters and wife. Letters unpublished in this book prove Charlotte and her sisters loved their father dearly. Mr Bronte was quite astonished to read his cold demeanor towards his children.

The strongest controversy came from other people, such as Lady Scott who threatened legal action due to Gaskell's mention of her affair with Charlotte's brother, Branwell.(The affair proved to be a total fabrication by the Bronte sisters.) William Carus, who founded the Clergy Daughters School at Cowan Bridge also expressed displeasure with the details of the school.

Regardless of the controversy, the biography gives an excellent portrait of Charlotte the woman. If you are looking for information on the Heger affair in Brussels, look elsewhere. Mr Heger's name is nonexistant in this book. Very little information is provided about Charlotte's courtship with Arthur Bell Nicholls. The majority of the biography consists of letters either written by Charlotte or to Charlotte. What better way to learn about an author than from her own words?

This biography not only describes Charlotte and her relationship with family and friends, but it also provides a wonderful portrayal of Haworth and the society that existed there before and after the Brontes arrived. Gaskell also describes Patrick Bronte's introduction to Charlotte's mother and many other descriptions of all Brontes from childhood to adulthood.

While many may call Charlotte Bronte a brilliant novelist, her life was anything but brilliant. Charlotte grew up without a mother and also lost two older siblings at a young age. Charlotte had to assume the role of woman of the house at an early age. The beloved author of Jane Eyre lived a life of isolation a very little joy. As the years went by, she watched each of her siblings die one by one. Mrs Gaskell provided many letters which make Charlotte's grief come to life to today's readers.

This biography is mostly a portrait of Charlotte the woman. There are few references to Charlotte the novelist. The introduction goes as far as to say that Mrs Gaskell did not particularly care for Charlotte's novels. The writing of this biography was not an easy task for Elizabeth Gaskell, who loved Charlotte so dearly. However, after her death, numerous articles appeared which urged the Brontes to write something to counter those who were attempting to tarnish the name of one who was so gentle and caring.

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 Charlotte Bronte 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! ... Read more

Product Description
The definitive biography of one of English literature's most beloved, and misunderstood, female writers.

"If men could see us as we really are, they would be amazed," wrote Charlotte Bronte, the outwardly conventional parson's daughter who rarely met any men beyond those of the church of classroom, and whose work Jane Eyre would bring her good name scandal and notoriety for the rest of her short and tragic life.

Elizabeth Gaskell, Charlotte's first biographer, attempted to clear Charlotte of the charges of passionate immorality that were leveled at her—as unmarried woman no less. Rebecca Fraser, 130 years later, places Charlotte's life within the framework of contemporary attitudes towards woman, and addresses how attitudes and perceptions of Charlotte have or haven't changed since the Victorian era. An invaluable contribution to Bronte scholarship, Fraser's biography brings forth only admiration for a woman prepared to stand out against some of the cruelest Victorian ideas about her sex. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

`Children, Charlotte has been writing a book - and I think it is a better one than I expected.'
While this book focuses primarily on the life and work of Charlotte Brontë, it starts with background sketches of the Reverend Patrick Brontë and his wife Maria Branwell, and chronicles the family's history.Charlotte's life was marked with sorrow and loss: her mother died when she was five; four years later her two older sisters Maria and Elizabeth died.Charlotte also outlived her younger siblings: her brother Branwell and sisters Emily and Anne died in 1848 and 1849.Charlotte herself died in 1855, three weeks short of her fortieth birthday.

In this book, first published in 1988, Ms Fraser traces the events and themes from Charlotte's own life: the girl's school at Cowan Bridge which served as the model for `Jane Eyre's Lowood; and her time in Brussels which provided both background for `Villette' and inspiration for `The Professor'. Ms Fraser also explores Charlotte's position as a woman writer in an age when a woman's role was narrowly defined.

For some reason, I didn't read this book when it was first published - possibly because Charlotte has never been my favourite Brontë author and I was content with the information I had obtained from other books.I'm pleased that I've now read the book: while much of the biographic information is available elsewhere, Ms Fraser's assessment of the influences on Charlotte and her research into Charlotte's contacts with the wider world outside the Haworth Parsonage add to my understanding and appreciation of her work.

As another reviewer has noted, this book is the reissue of a book first published in 1988.There are plenty of works published about the Brontë family, a number of which are more recent than 1988 (including Juliet Barker's excellent book `The Brontës').I'd recommend this book to someone primarily interested in Charlotte.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Charlotte Revisited
My one and only outstanding complaint about the reissue of this excellent biography is this:readers have no indication at all that this is a reprint of the original 1988 edition.I mistakingly thought that this biography was a revised, updated version of Rebecca Fraser's "The Brontes:Charlotte Bronte and Her Family" published 20 years ago and printed in the United States as well as Great Britain.It's actually the exact same book with a different title.No new disclosures, no recent information, no varying critiques or revisionist perspectives, when indeed very often an author will update their own biographical subject as new artifacts and letters are discovered - and yes, authors will update their own works as much as 20 years later; it's been done with Ives' book on Anne Boleyn; a couple of bios on F. Scott Fitzgerald; Arthur Rimbaud, etc.There's been, if not exactly a wealth of discovery on the Brontes, still some certainly very definitive works and even superior biographies since Fraser's 1988 book:Juliet Barker stands out most distinctly, and in the past decade more letters have been found, and more newspaper articles contemporary to the Brontes' time. A theory's even been offered in a very well done mid-1990's bio on Charlotte that she died from acute gastrointestinal infection and not from the results of pregnancy sickness, although it's been pretty well determined from her correspondence that she was pregnant at the time of her death.To just offer the exact same book of Rebecca Fraser's - as complete for its time as it was; as sensitive and sympathetic as she is to her subject - with an altered title can and will fool readers into purchasing a volume they already own.It did me. ... Read more

Product Description
The Brontë sisters made up one of the most well known literary families of all time. Collected in this giant book is the collective works of Anne, Charlotte, and Emily Brontë (along with their father Patrick Brontë). The book contains a navigable table of contents to help you easily find the work you are looking for.

Included in this edition:
Agnes Grey
Jane Eyre
Cottage Poems
The Professor
Shirley
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Villette
Wuthering Heights ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Complete Works of the Bronte Family
This edition has a lot of typos, but it's only $0.99. If you can overlook the typos then this edition is alright. ... Read more

Product Description
The most cherished novel from each of England's talented sisters, in one gorgeously packaged volume

The Brontë family was a literary phenomenon unequalled before or since. Both Charlotte's Jane Eyre and Emily's Wuthering Heights have won lofty places in the pantheon and stirred the romantic sensibilities of generations of readers. For the first time ever, Penguin Classics unites these two enduring favorites with the lesser known but no less powerful work by their youngest sister, Anne. Drawn from Anne's own experiences as a governess, Agnes Grey offers a compelling view of Victorian chauvinism and materialism. Its inclusion makes The Brontë Sisters a must-have volume for anyone fascinated by this singularly talented family.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Beautiful Book
I love the Bronte sisters. It's so nice to have three of their novels in one beautiful book. ... Read more

Product Description
This critically acclaimed portrait of Charlotte Bronte looks beyond the insistent image of the modest Victorian lady, the slave to duty in the shadow of tombstones, to reveal a strong, fiery woman who shaped her own life and transformed it into art. Drawing on Bronte's unpublished letters, journals, early stories, and the manuscript of Villette, her last, unfinished novel, Gordon takes readers into the unseen space in which Bronte was able to live and create. of photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Could Have Been Much Better
Charlotte Bronte is definitely a very fascinating person, but I found that this book focuses too much on her writings and not on her life. The author inserts Charlotte's writings too frequently. The book doesn't flow, it is too choppy. It is hard to understand because one minute you're reading about Charlotte and then the next minute you are reading something that she wrote and there isn't a smooth transition between the two. The author interprets all of Charlotte's writings as though everything she wrote was based on her life experience and Charlotte wasn't creative enough to come up with her own plots and characters apart from her own experiences. It's too subjective. I didn't enjoy it and found it hard to get through.

CHARLOTTE BRONTE A PASSIONATE LIFE
I was happy with the purchase of this book. it was in great condition and is now in my library.

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. ... Read more

Product Description
In their collaborative early writings, the Brontës created and peopled the most extraordinary fantasy worlds, whose geography and history they elaborated in numerous stories, poems, and plays. Together they invented characters based on heroes and writers such as Wellington, Napoleon, Scott, and Byron, whose feuds, alliances, and love affairs weave an intricate web of social and political intrigue in imaginary colonial lands in Africa and the Pacific Ocean. The writings of Glass Town, Angria, and Gondal are youthful experiments in imitation and parody, wild romance and realistic recording--a playful literary world that they would draw upon for their early and later work. In this generous selection, the early writings of the Brontë's are presented together for the first time. Christine Alexander's Introduction explores the rich imaginative lives of the Brontës, and the tension between their maturing authorship and creative freedom. The edition includes Charlotte Brontë's Roe Head Journal, and Emily and Anne's Diary Papers. The edition also has a key to characters and place, detailed notes, and a map of Glass Town and Angria. ... Read more

Product Description
Following the notable debut of The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë, beloved author Laura Joh Rowland offers her legions of fans the next installment in the Charlotte Brontë mystery series... with more to come. On her last escapade, Charlotte unintentionally witnessed a murder and found herself embroiled in a dangerous chain of events. Now, Charlotte returns in a stunning sequel that takes the reader into the most sinister institution in London: Bedlam.

With the death of her siblings and far from home, Charlotte has few people to trust. Struggling with romantic entanglements and her stressful rise to prominence on the literary scene, she is more alone than ever. On a visit to London, Charlotte goes on a tour of London's most famous hospital for the mad, Bedlam. She is sure she recognizes a struggling Mr. Slade, her long-missing ex-lover, strapped to one of the stretchers. Charlotte starts digging, and soon finds herself trying to reveal a secret that high-powered men would (and do) kill to protect. It is up to Charlotte to find the truth and expose a plot of global proportion. But what if the conspirators get to her first? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

satisfying fast-paced historical mystery
Once again, Laura Joh Rowland has written a fascinating and fun mystery, this time with Charlotte Bronte as sleuth. I love that she so seamlessly works in biographical details of Charlotte Bronte's life, real cases of Victorian-era serial killers, and lots of famous historical personages.

funVictorian thriller
Charlotte Bronte wants to mourn the deaths of her sisters Anne and Emily, but Jane Eyre will not allow her to.She feels survival guilt as her two novelist siblings never saw their writings make it though now thanks in part to her tale Jane Eyre, she and her late siblings are the talk of the nation.

Charlotte has also ended her relationship with her beloved John Slade, whom she met during her Moscow adventure last year (see Secret Adventures Of Charlotte Bronte).Famous author William Makepeace Thackeray has mentored Charlotte and helps her deal with sudden fame and entrance to the literary lions of London.She is escorted on a tour of Bedlam Psychiatric Hospital, but one inmate looks like Anne's twin and worse another has to be John.She challenges the officials re the latter's identification and told he is Polish expatriate Josef Typinski, who escaped when a murder causes chaos.The authorities accuse Josef of the homicide while Charlotte gets involved.

Rotating perspective between Charlotte's journal and Slade's escapades, readers will fully believe the last Bronte sister's adventures this time in England.The story line is fast-paced, filled with action and feels plausible even with Charlotte turning into an amateur sleuth of sorts.As with the previous Charlotte Bronte's secret adventures (in Moscow), fans of Victorian thrillers will be thrilled reading about the heroine's bedlam escapades.

Harriet Klausner
... Read more