I am a huge fan of Victorian lit. My favourite author is Charlotte Bronte (if you haven’t read Jane Eyre or Villette you missing a real treat). So when I came across this meme on Laura’s Reviews I just had to join in the challenge.
There are a whole pile of suggestions on Laura’s blog: as well as the original works by the sisters there are a huge range o biographies as well as spin-off books like Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca that were influenced by the Bronte’s.
My list for this challenge is:
Shirley – Charlotte Bronte
“Written at a time of social unrest, it is set during the period of the Napoleonic Wars, when economic hardship led to riots in the woollen district of Yorkshire. A mill-owner, Robert Moore, is determined to introduce new machinery despite fierce opposition from his workers; he ignores their suffering, and puts his own life at risk .Robert sees marriage to the wealthy Shirley Keeldar as the solution to his difficulties, but he loves his cousin Caroline. She suffers misery and frustration, and Shirley has her own ideas about the man she will choose to marry.”
Charlotte Bronte: A Passionate Life by Lyndall Gordon
“In this groundbreaking and unconventional biography, Lyndall Gordon dismantles the insistent image of Charlotte Bronte as a modest Victorian lady, the slave to duty in the shadow of tombstones, revealing instead a strong and fiery woman who shaped her own life and transformed it into art. “
The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte by Daphne Du Maurier
“As a bold and gifted child, Branwell Brontë’s promise seemed boundless to the three adoring sisters over whom his rule was complete. But as an adult, the precocious flame of genius flickered and burned low. With neither the strength nor the resources to counter rejection, unable to sell his paintings or publish his books, Branwell became a specter in the Brontë story, in pathetic contrast with the remarkable achievements of Charlotte, Anne, and Emily. Daphne du Maurier concentrates all her biographer’s skill on the shadowy figure of Branwell Brontë, and no reader could fail to be intensely moved by Branwell’s final retreat into laudanum, alcohol, and death.”
I have also set myself a challenge of reading a total of 10 Victorian novels for 2010 for my Victorians group on Goodreads. I keep changing my mind about what I want to read but some of the favourite contenders are:
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
Thank-you for joining my All About the Brontes Challenge! You’ve picked some excellent books and I look forward to reading your reviews. I just finally joined Good Reads. I need to find the Victorian Group and join! I love Victorian novels (if you can’t tell!).