A while ago I finished Charlotte Brontë’s The Professor and I realized that I have now (sadly) read all of the Brontë sister’s seven novels. I thought I’d do a roundup of them all, focusing on the ones that seem to have been overlooked by most people.
Agnes Grey (1847) centers around the story of a young woman and the hardships she faces as a governess. While it’s a nice book, I have to admit that it didn’t really grab me on a deeper level. Anne Brontë’s second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), however, is one of my all-time favourite books. It tells the story of Helen Huntingdon and her unhappy marriage with the brutish drunkard Arthur Huntingdon, and her decision to finally leave him. There are parts of the book that seem so modern that it’s amazing to think that it was published 165 years ago. No wonder it caused such a stir back then. I just love how strong of a character Helen is and her determination to make her own choices in life, despite the societal pressure she faces. While most people hold up Jane Eyre as one of the ultimate feminist books of the 19th century, in my opinion The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is just as daring, if not more, because it’s so explicit in its treatment of women’s liberation. That’s why it saddens me that it’s not more widely read!
Continuing on the theme of overlooked Brontë novels, Shirley (1849) is a novel that definitely deserves more readers. Here is the synopsis from Goodreads:
“[...] Shirley is the story of two contrasting heroines. One is the shy Caroline Helstone, who is trapped in the oppressive atmosphere of a Yorkshire rectory and whose bare life symbolizes the plight of single women in the nineteenth century. The other is the vivacious Shirley Keeldar, who inherits a local estate and whose wealth liberates her from convention.”
That sums it up pretty nicely. What I like the most about the book is the friendship between Caroline and Shirley. They are so different and live under very different circumstances but there’s so much love and admiration between them. Villette (1853) is yet another Brontë novel that’s often overlooked, unfortunately. It tells the story of Lucy Snowe who goes abroad to work as a teacher. She finds herself alone and struggling and eventually she makes the acquaintance of a peculiar schoolmaster, who is a very interesting character in my opinion. All I can say is that there’s so much passion in this book and this is something that seems to run through all of Charlotte Brontë’s novels, not the least in Jane Eyre (1847). Which is a book that I love, of course. How could you not? It’s romantic, dramatic and absolutely beautiful. So much has been said about it that I don’t think I have anything to add! Finally, The Professor (1857) is about a male teacher who goes to Belgium to work and the story then revolves around his life there as he’s trying to find his footing in life. It’s my least favourite novel by Charlotte Brontë but that’s not saying much considering how much I love her other books. What I like the most about her writing is that the characters she creates are utterly fascinating and so full of passion, with all their imperfections. You feel that they are real.
Wuthering Heights (1847) is one of those books that has been universally praised and that everybody seems to love. That’s why I had very high expectations when I finally picked it up. While it didn’t quite live up to them, it’s still a great book of course. I like the ruggedness of it and that the characters are so complex that they’re sometimes unlikable. That’s also what makes them believable.
This is a poem that I found tucked into a copy of Waiting for Godot at the library. Isn’t it lovely? I thought it was such a nice little surprise when I saw it. Just to see another person’s handwriting in this digital age is enough to make me happy!
