Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39425 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 494 pages

About the Author
ELIZABETH GASKELL was born in London in 1810. She married a minister, and her literary output was substantial and completely professional. Many of her works are available in Penguin Classics, including NORTH AND SOUTH, SYLVIA'S LOVERS, and WIVES AND DAUGHTERS. She died suddenly in 1865. ELISABETH JAY has taught and lectured at various universities in Great Britain and the USA, and is currently Head of Westminster College, Oxford. Her books include FAITH AND DOUBT IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN.

Customer Reviews

A must for bronte fans everywhere
I have a confession to make - I am a bronte obsessive and I am comforted by the fact that I am not alone. For anyone remotely interested in the brontes, this book is essential. Yes, admittedly since its publication there have been an avalanche of biographies etc and few can match Juliet Barker's " The Brontes ", but Gaskell's now somewhat quaint account is one of the first and most tender presentations of a dear friend and there in lies its value.

The Life of Charlotte Bronte (Penguin Classics)
As per the other reviews on here, this book is an essential read if you want to know the full life and times of the Bronte's.

However, one thing i will say, i found it annoying that some of the names of people mentioned in the book had their names blanked out to protect them as they might still be living, which after this amount of time is very doubtful.

And totally my ignorance is that I don’t speak French, so it meant skipping a few pages every now and then as some of the letters Charlotte had written were in French.

The pace of the book is a little uneven but this may be down to the events, still Definatly a good read.