In the history of literature, many women writers used male pseudonyms to be accepted by an industry that underestimated the quality of their work. These pseudonyms gave credibility and served as shields to express their ideas freely.
The Brontë sisters were part of this group. They managed to hide their identity while publishing great works that are now considered classics of English literature.
To close March, the month of women, with a flourish, we bring you the works of the Brontë sisters, an example of the struggle for equality in the world of literature.
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Novel, gothic fiction
Published: 1847
Pages: 624
Author’s nationality: UK
Charlotte Brontë signed her works as Currer Bell. Her most recognized novel is Jane Eyre, a masterpiece that continues to captivate readers of all ages for its timeless social critique and its passionate and tragic love story.
Like Charlotte, Jane is a woman ahead of her time. With her first novel, the writer gave us one of the most influential female characters in literature — an independent, determined and intelligent woman who forged her character after a childhood marked by loneliness and injustice.
Who’d like this?
Although many recognize the novel for the love story, Jane Eyre is much more than that. Charlotte tackles other deep issues such as the condition of women, social inequality, religion and education that may be of interest to many readers today. Which is why it is seen as one of the first feminist books. Certainly, the gothic literature elements are also a draw for many readers.
Quotes
- “Do you think I am an automaton? — a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!”
- “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.”
Readers say
- “I should have read this many years before. It is full of suspense and descriptions are magnificent”, says an Amazon user.
- “I loved how Brontë made such a strong character that places all of her faith in her own judgement and what she can see with her own eyes!” says an Amazon user.
Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
Novel, gothic fiction
Published: 1847
Pages: 416
Author’s nationality: UK
Emily Brontë used the pseudonym Ellis Bell. Besides being considered one of England’s finest poets, Emily wrote one of the greatest classics of English Victorian literature: Wuthering Heights.
This masterpiece is a complex and passionate gothic novel that mixes love, hate, revenge and tragedy. The bleak Yorkshire Moors are just another character in the plot that reflects the tumultuous relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw — a destructive force that consumes them both.
Who’d like this?
The narrative style creates powerful imagery through vivid, poetic prose. Readers looking for a complex plot with fascinating and contradictory characters will be delighted. They will definitely be swept away by the visceral plot that explores death, human nature and intense destructive love.
Quotes
- “I gave him my heart, and he took and pinched it to death; and flung it back to me. People feel with their hearts, Ellen, and since he has destroyed mine, I have not power to feel for him.”
- “He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”
Readers say
- “After many years I finally read this book and it was one of the best I have ever read. It haunts me like Alraune haunts me. I love that feeling”, says an Amazon user.
- “This is a dark novel without being too dark… Reading Wuthering Heights is truly like being a fly on the wall, watching and listening with an intimate ear, the goings on of various real and even disturbing characters, in two dynamic families”, says an Amazon user.
Agnes Grey, Anne Brontë
Novel
Published: 1847
Pages: 106
Author’s nationality: UK
Anne Brontë adopted the name Acton Bell. With elegant, poignant, thoughtful and vivid writing, Anne writes a veiled autobiography taking references from her own experience as a governess , a role her sisters also had. Her heroine is, likewise, an independent and determined woman struggling to maintain her dignity in a world that tries to oppress her.
Agnes Grey is often overshadowed by the other works of the Brontë sisters, but this novel is just as magnificent in offering an intimate, raw and realistic portrait of the lives of middle-class women in Victorian England.
Who’d like this?
A thought-provoking novel about the status of women, social inequalities and the limited opportunities for women in Victorian society. The story is still relevant today as it explores through complex characters the social difficulties and the eternal search for happiness.
Quotes
- “Reading is my favorite occupation, when I have leisure for it and books to read.”
- “It is foolish to wish for beauty. Sensible people never either desire it for themselves or care about it in others. If the mind be but well cultivated, and the heart well disposed, no one ever cares for the exterior.”
Readers say
- “A great book to read, with a lot of life’s valuable lessons. Very romantic as well and interesting to all ages”, says an Amazon user.
- “Agnes Grey is maybe the best written of the three well known Bronte books, others being Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. I just finished the book and wonder how it is not more popular”, says an Amazon user.