Shirley. by Charlotte Bronte(currer Bell) Illustrated.

Shirley is an engaging novel which wonderfully depicts women s feelings and thoughts It is outstanding for its intricate plot and excellent character development It is a domestic love story and considered as Bronte s most feminist novel Set during the Napoleonic wars at a time of national economic struggles Shirley is an unsentimental yet passionate depiction of conflict among classes sexes and generations Struggling manufacturer Robert Moore considers marriage to the wealthy and independent Shirley Keeldar yet his heart lies with his cousin Caroline Shirley meanwhile is in love with Robertas brother an impoverished tutor As industrial unrest builds to a potentially fatal pitch can the four be reconciled Shirley is Charlotte Bront e e s only historical novel and her most topical one 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 tointroduce 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 Shirleyhas her own ideas about the man she will choose to marry The friendship between the two women and the contrast between their situations is at the heart of this compelling novel which is suffused with Bront s deep yearning for an earlier time The Shirley of the title is a woman of independent means her friend Caroline is not Both struggle with what a woman s role is and can be Their male counterparts Louis the powerless tutor and Robert his cloth manufacturing brother also stand at odds to society s expectations The novel is set in a period of social and political ferment featuring class disenfranchisement the drama of Luddite machine breaking and th