Shirley

I just completed a Charlotte Bronte book that I have never read before. It was lovely to read a fresh, "new" book, turning every page just wondering what I would find out next. This book is no ordinary Bronte either. Charlotte Bronte's other three books: Jane Eyre, Villette, and The Professor (which I have yet to read), are all, more or less, autobiographies of her life, and histories of the world as Bronte knew it (England, France and Belgium).

"Shirley" is the only book Charlotte Bronte wrote that endeavours to bring to her reader's attention the condition of a society, including both the lower and upper classes. In her other books, Bronte teaches about particular social positions and particular social evils. In "Jane Eyre" she portrays the life led in the charity schools; the life of a governess; the life of a rich gentleman. In "Villette" she portrays the life of a poverty stricken young woman who must journey to France to become a school teacher in order to live. Of all C. Bronte's books, this is the least known. Literature analysts have misunderstood it, the public has misunderstood it. Many go to this book thinking to read in it an account of C. Bronte's life. But it is nothing of the sort.

"Shirley" is a similar book to Elizabeth Gaskell's "North and South" and "Mary Barton". It is an account of the merchant's/tradesman's struggles during the Napoleonic wars (when trade with any country outside of the Commonwealth was prohibited, and both sides would take possession of any merchant ship of the opposition that they could). Trade suffers, so the merchants are going bankrupt. Therefore they are obliged to lay off hands, and the workers, and their families starve. It is a truly moving book, that is bound to grab you from the first page, and not let you put it down until the final sentence. It is an account of strife between the tradesmen and lower class, of attempted murder, of love, of loneliness, of longing, of patience, of reward and fulfillment in the end.