Summary
‘I am only just returned to a sense of the real world about me, for I have been reading Villette … There is something preternatural about its power’ George Eliot
Read this beautiful, romantic feminist classic from the author of Jane Eyre.
When Lucy Snowe leaves England to look for a new life on the Continent she has no idea what lies in store for her. This quiet, lonely girl must learn quickly when she finds herself teaching in a foreign school, with no friends or family to re…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780099529927 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0099529920 |
| Author: | Charlotte Brontë |
| Publisher: | Vintage Publishing |
| Imprint: | Vintage Classics |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 672 |
| Release Date: | 3 August 2009 |
| Weight: | 476g |
| Dimensions: | 44mm x 132mm x 198mm |
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Critics Review
“I am only just returned to a sense of the real world about me, for I have been reading Villette … There is something preternatural about its power” George Eliot
Weird and wonderful * Guardian *
So original, so transgressive in its content and so startlingly unorthodox in its form, that its 19th-century readers were dumbfounded by it…a visionary description of psychic life …a subtle and dazzlingly inventive exploration of areas of consciousness never mapped in fiction before, and seldom since * Sunday Times *
Villette has always been the most heart-squeezing of the Bronte novels…a perfect study of quiet desperation…a rich novel * Sunday Express *
A novel with an unconscious mind. The deeper you dig, the more disturbing it becomes – Lucasta Miller * Independent *
Charlotte Bronte’s most profound achievement * Independent *
Sensitive and timeless in the descriptions of a young woman’s emotions as she copes with the pain of unrequited love * The Times *
Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë was born on 21 April 1816. Her father was the curate of Haworth, Yorkshire, and her mother died when she was five years old, leaving five daughters and one son.
In 1824, Charlotte, Maria, Elizabeth, and Emily were sent to Cowan Bridge, a school for clergymen’s daughters. Tragically, Maria and Elizabeth contracted tuberculosis there and died. Following this, the children were educated at home, where they collaboratively created vivid fantasy worlds, which they explored through their writing.
Charlotte worked as a teacher from 1835 to 1838, and subsequently as a governess. In 1846, alongside her sisters Emily and Anne, Charlotte published Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. After this collection, Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, Anne wrote Agnes Grey, and Charlotte wrote The Professor. While Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey were published, Charlotte’s novel was initially rejected.
In 1847, Jane Eyre became her first published novel and achieved immediate success. Between 1848 and 1849, Charlotte experienced the loss of her remaining siblings: Emily, Branwell, and Anne. She published Shirley in 1849 and Villette in 1853. In 1854, she married the Revd. Arthur Bell Nicholls. Charlotte Brontë died the following year, on 31 March 1855.
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