'You expected bread, and you have got a stone; break
your teeth on it, and don't shriek...you will have
learned the great lesson how to endure without a sob.'
Shirley is Charlotte Bronte'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 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. The
friendship between the two women, and the contrast
between their situations, is at the heart of this
compelling novel, which is suffused with Bronte's deep
yearning for an earlier time. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over
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