The Bronte Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily and Anne by Catherine Reef

Sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte were gifted writers that rebelled against the standards of 19th century society. During that time women were considered property of men and were expected to live quiet, obedient, unspoken lives. When they were still young children, the Brontes' clergyman father moved the family to a rural village called Haworth in northern England. It is here where the three sisters lose their mother and later their two other sisters Maria and Elizabeth and where they will bond as close as ever with each other and their brother Patrick Branwell (referred to in the book as Branwell). In their Haworth home the girls and their brother find enjoyment in writing of fantasy worlds and take solace in reading. As they grow older, they journey to find their place in the society that appears to uphold the idea that "literature cannot be the business of a woman's life." Despite this, Charlotte, Emily and Anne all create wonderful works of literature derived from their experiences of trying to find happiness in a world that ignores the talents of women. After discovering that teaching held no joy for any of them and knowing that their lack of wealth stole the opportunity to attract good husbands, they send off their works of fiction in hopes of being published. Before long their novels Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey has stirred up controversy among the members of the Victorian era. Each book was continually praised by some and scoffed at by others due to the drastically different traits in the main female characters as opposed to the stereotypical Victorian woman that did as she was told. The books spoke of topics typically ignored by the time's society and struck many as barbarically outspoken. Word of the unusual novels spread and the books soon were labeled classics. But, Emily and Anne had not as much time as Charlotte to witness their fame as they both died at early ages. Emily thirty and Anne twenty nine. Charlotte is left with only her father and their old family friend Tabby and falls into depression before writing two more novels: Shirley and Villette. She is proposed to by her father's curate Arthur Nicholls and eventually persuades him to allow the marriage. They are married for such a little time before Charlotte succumbs to tuberculosis at age thirty eight, but her life is not forgotten as her father asks one of her friends to write a biography of his oldest daughter in her honor, however the three sisters' literary works are what strongly reminds people today of their lives.