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Charlotte Bronte (1816-55)
Who?
Sister of Emily and Anne. One of the most passionate novelists of the 19th century.
Must reads
Jane Eyre (1847).
Darkest hour
In 1848, her dissolute brother, Branwell, and her sister Emily both died.
Greatest triumph
The publication of Jane Eyre, which achieved immediate success.
Essential quotes
'There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.' (Jane Eyre)
'The mad woman in the attic.' (Jane Eyre)
'I saw nothing, but I heard a voice somewhere cry – ''Jane! Jane! Jane!'' – nothing more.' (Jane Eyre)
'Reader, I married him.' (Jane Eyre)
Critical raves
GH Lewes, George Eliot's husband, called Jane Eyre 'Decidedly the best novel of the season'. When Thackeray read the book, he was found in tears by a servant.
Gossip
In Brussels in 1844, and studying languages, she fell in love with a Monsieur Heger, who failed to respond to her letters when she got back to Haworth. However, in 1854 she married her father's curate AB Nicholls, but died a few months later, probably of an illness associated with pregnancy.
Did u know?
When it was published, Jane Eyre created a sensation as great as that of Vanity Fair. The book appeared under the male pseudonym of Currer Bell, and its sympathetic account of an ordinary woman's passions irritated conservative readers.
What to say
Charlotte was the most admired of the Bronte sisters, and her major innovation was to shake off literary and moral conventions by showing that her penniless female heroine had a true capacity and hunger for passionate experience.
Don't say
Plain Jane.
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