Shirley by Charlotte Bronte

I was told that there was a twist in this one, but I had both Caroline and Shirley paired with their eventual husbands early on - and had figured that Mrs. Pryor was Caroline's unaccountably missing mother. Still, a good read - for the most part, there were long rants here and there which I read very, very quickly.

I did find some passages which I found interesting enough to note for future discussion - since this is one of the readings for a class which I am taking this summer. I hope I can find them again when I get my paper copy. The instructor and I started discussing, but decided that we really should wait until the class meets. It is a face-to-face class - in four venues by ITV or whatever they are calling it these days. I've never taken a course in that format, but I will be in the actual room where the instructor is.

But, back to the book. Until now, the only Bronte works I have read are the perennials: Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. This isn't much like either one of them - it is rather political, in and around the romances, which are not wild passionate affairs in any case. The whole story centers around two girls, an orphaned heiress, Shirley, and the supposed orphan niece of the local rector, Caroline, whose absent mother turns up as Shirley's companion and former governess. The politics involve the Napoleonic wars and the industrial revolution. The tone is far from the brooding romanticism of the more familiar works of the Bronte sisters. There are a couple of long romantic soliloquys, but they seem generally to be tossed in because they were expected. Not much at all in the way of high romance, but detailed characterizations that are quite delightful. And along the way there are some rather pointed views of some of the ills of society - for one thing, Caroline's mother abandoned her daughter and went into hiding to escape from brutal abuse at the hands of her husband. We also get some insight into the treatment of the underclasses, particularly those sufficiently well-born and educated to serve as governesses and tutors for the moneyed classes.