The Best Books by Anne, Charlotte and Emily Brontë Ranked

Table Of Content

• The life and times of Britain's royal children
• William, Kate celebrate 13th wedding anniversary
• What You Should Know About The Brontës: 10 Facts About The Most Interesting Literary Family
• Prince William and Kate Middleton's daughter Princess Charlotte celebrates 9th birthday
• Met Gala 2024: 'The Garden of Time' theme meaning, hosts and more
• Related: Kate Middleton and Prince William's Best Quotes About Parenthood

Her masterpiece, “Wuthering Heights,” is not only considered one of the greatest works in English literature but also a timeless tale of passion and obsession. Through her vivid descriptions and compelling characters, Emily Brontë delves into the depths of human emotions, exploring themes of love, revenge, and the complexities of relationships. Tragically, Emily’s life was cut short at the tender age of 30, as she succumbed to tuberculosis. Despite her untimely demise, her legacy continues to captivate readers around the world, as her words immortalize the power of raw emotions and the enduring beauty of her beloved Yorkshire countryside. Mourning in the sister-less parsonage, Charlotte distracted herself by writing.

The life and times of Britain's royal children

Whilst in life and times remembered more for her sisters , Anne was no less talented as evidenced by the themes present in her novel “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall”. And whilst considered another example of Victorian gothic literature herself – Milton’s Paradise Lost became a big influence from which she drew inspiration. It features within her text as literary expressions that demonstrate one’s ability to think independently about difficult topics.

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William, Kate celebrate 13th wedding anniversary

Jane Eyre was quickly sent to press and was an immediate sensation. The three Brontë sisters all cherished literary ambitions from an early age, and despite lives that were cut short by illness, secured a prominent place in the English literary canon. Instead, it is, for our money, the greatest of all of the books by the Brontë sisters, and an all-time classic. Anne Brontë wrote just two novels, and this was the first of them, a first-person tale published in 1847 and narrated by the title character, a young woman who takes up work as a governess to help support her family. But of course it’s the novels themselves that we should turn to find the most vital avatars of those characters. Below, we introduce the best books by the Brontë sisters, ranking them in order – controversially, perhaps, from ‘least good’ to ‘very best’.

What You Should Know About The Brontës: 10 Facts About The Most Interesting Literary Family

So embark on this literary voyage and experience the profound depth of Brontë’s words, as she invites you to explore the complexities of the human spirit and the power of self-discovery. In 1824, Charlotte and her sisters Maria (their departed mother’s namesake), Elizabeth, and Emily were sent away from the Parsonage where they lived with their father and an aunt, to a school for daughters of the clergy in Cowan’s Bridge. Maria and Elizabeth fell ill while there and died of tuberculosis; Charlotte and Emily returned home. In 1825, Anne faced further tragedy with the deaths of her sisters Maria and Elizabeth from tuberculosis. Charlotte and Emily were subsequently brought home from school and educated by their father, who instilled in them a love for reading and learning, exposing them, along with Anne, to classical literature and other genres. Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontė were the authors of some of the best-loved books in the English language.

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They represented how possible and rewarding it can be to critique the normative expectations that have been placed on women historically. Charlotte was the eldest sister whose novel Jane Eyre is a true masterpiece of 19th-century literature. The novel is based on her personal experience as a governess and addresses issues such as social class disparity, female independence, morality, love and betrayal. Charlotte’s writing perfectly depicts the constraints faced by women during the Victorian era but also provided hope for female empowerment. To understand the Bronte Sisters’ path to literary success, we need to turn the pages back to their childhood and upbringing.

In just a few years, the siblings Anne, Charlotte, and Emily Brontë published seven remarkable full-length novels which continue to be read, enjoyed, and studied by countless people around the world. In 1845, the Brontë sisters were all back at their father’s home with no immediate job prospects. Discovering poetry each had written, they decided to use their inheritance from their aunt to pay for the publication of a collection of their poems. Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, was published in May 1846, containing 21 poems by Anne, 21 by Emily, and 19 by Charlotte. To conceal their gender, they adopted pen names, retaining their initials – Anne’s pseudonym was Acton Bell. In an attempt to escape the hated life of a governess, the sisters planned to set up a school of their own at the Parsonage.

Met Gala 2024: 'The Garden of Time' theme meaning, hosts and more

Hopefully now you’re just as obsessed with the Brontës as I am, friends. Anyway, although the novel has been met with critical acclaim more recently, Wuthering Heights was not so beloved at the time of its publication. For a long time, Emily could not find a publisher, and when she finally did, she had to pay for the novel to be published.

These were very uncommon forenames but the initials of each of the sisters were preserved and the patronym could have been inspired by that of the vicar of the parish, Arthur Bell Nicholls. It was in fact on 18 May 1845 that he took up his duties at Haworth, at the moment when the publication project was well advanced. Aside from being pioneers in feminist literature during a time when women’s voices were often silenced, each sister had her unique approach to storytelling that has resonated with countless readers over generations. Their raw emotional honesty coupled with nuanced characterization set them apart from other authors of their time. The Bronte Sisters were three siblings – Charlotte, Emily, and Anne – born in Yorkshire in the early 19th century.

After a brief trip home upon the death of her aunt, Charlotte returned to Brussels as a pupil-teacher. Her friends had left Brussels, and Madame Héger appears to have become jealous of her. The nature of Charlotte’s attachment to Héger and the degree to which she understood herself have been much discussed. His was the most-interesting mind she had yet met, and he had perceived and evoked her latent talents. His strong and eccentric personality appealed both to her sense of humour and to her affections. She offered him an innocent but ardent devotion, but he tried to repress her emotions.

He was often the driving force in the Brontë siblings' construction of the imaginary worlds. The influence revealed by Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is much less clear. Anne's works are largely founded on her experience as a governess and on that of her brother's decline. In 1824, the four eldest girls (excluding Anne) entered the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge,[22] which educated the children of less prosperous members of the clergy, and had been recommended to Mr Brontë.

All three sisters pursued careers as writers and produced several notable novels throughout their short lives. Perhaps the most famous of all the Bronte sisters’ books is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. This classic novel tells the story of headstrong governess Jane who falls in love with her employer Mr. Rochester. Through Jane’s voice, we delve into issues of class struggle and gender inequality as she navigates her way through rigid social hierarchies in search of true love. The Bronte Sisters – Emily, Charlotte, and Anne – are some of the most influential writers to have ever graced the literary world.

She published Villette, which detailed her own fervent longings for love in 1853, amidst a romantic entangled she had never anticipated. Emily's writings were initially published under the name Ellis Bell. She joined her sisters in publishing a collective volume of poetry in 1846.

Emily’s cough at the funeral rapidly progressed to infirmity, and in December she also passed away. The book Wuthering Heights is a commonly read piece of literature in high school or college. In fact, the novel is one of the few works by female writers that is typically assigned in literature courses covering the canon of Western literature. However, three sisters in 19th-century England managed to bust their way into the male-dominated world of publishing.

Charlotte and Anne appear to have had the most success in the field of education. Charlotte served as a teacher at Roe Head School, teaching her sisters in addition to other pupils, resigning only when Anne’s illness caused them both to return home. After Anne’s first dismissal from a governess position for the Ingham family, she found more success at Thorp Green Hill for the Robinson family. She found her brother Branwell a tutor position with the same family; however, a reputed affair with the wife of his charges caused his dismissal in 1845. Anne Brontë too returned home around the same time, having suffered terribly from loneliness during her time away.

In 1857, two years after Charlotte’s death, her first novel, The Professor, was finally published. In the same year Elizabeth Gaskell’s moving tribute to her friend, The Life of Charlotte Brontė, also appeared. What Charlotte saw as her father’s unjust treatment worked in Nicholls’ favour, and the couple were eventually married in Haworth Church on 29 June 1854. Though Charlotte had entered the married state with misgivings, she found unexpected happiness with Arthur.