First published 16 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. - pseudonym Currer Bell
My rating: 8
Goodreads rating: 4,14
Key characters:
Jane Eyre: The novel's narrator and protagonist
Mrs. Sarah Reed: (née Gibson) Jane's maternal aunt by marriage
Mr. Lloyd: A compassionate apothecary
Mr. Brocklehurst: The clergyman, director, and treasurer of Lowood School
Miss Maria Temple: The kind superintendent of Lowood School
Helen Burns: Jane's best friend at Lowood School
Mrs. Alice Fairfax: The elderly, kind widow and the housekeeper of Thornfield Hall
Adèle Varens:An excitable French child to whom Jane is a governess at Thornfield.
Edward Fairfax Rochester: The master of Thornfield Hall.
Blanche Ingram: Young socialite whom Mr. Rochester plans to marry.
Richard Mason: An Englishman who is the brother of Rochester's first wife.
Bertha Antoinetta Mason: The first wife of Edward Rochester.
2.Agnes Grey ( Anne )
First Edition: December 1847 by Thomas Cautley Newby - pseudonym Acton Bell
My rating: 7
Goodreads rating: 3,70
Key characters:
Agnes Grey - The main protagonist and narrator of the story and the younger daughter of Richard Grey
Edward Weston - A country parson whom Agnes falls in love with
Alice Grey - Agnes’ mother who opens a school with Agnes after her husband's death.
Mary Grey - Agnes’ sister who later marries a parson, Mr. Richardson.
Mrs. Bloomfield - Mistress of Wellwood. Agnes’ first employer
Mr. Bloomfield - Master of Wellwood who is convinced that Agnes is not competent,
Mrs. Murray - Agnes's second employer's wife
Rosalie Ashby / Rosalie Murray - The oldest Murray child, who makes Agnes a sort of confidant.
Nancy Brown - An older woman whom Agnes befriends.
3. Wuthering Heights ( Emily )
First Edition: December 1847 why Thomas Cautley Newby - as Ellis Bell
My rating: 9
Goodreads rating: 3,87
Key characters:
Catherine Earnshaw: First introduced to the reader after her death, through Lockwood's discovery of her diary
Heathcliff: An orphan found in Liverpool and taken by Mr Earnshaw to Wuthering Heights
Edgar Linton: Introduced as a child in the Linton family, he resides at Thrushcross Grange
Nelly Dean: The main narrator of the novel, Nelly is a servant to three generations of the Earnshaws
Isabella Linton: Sister of Edgar's who marries Heathcliff
Hindley Earnshaw: Catherine's elder brother
Hareton Earnshaw: The son of Hindley and Frances
Cathy Linton: The daughter of Catherine and Edgar Linton
Linton Heathcliff: The son of Heathcliff and Isabella.
Joseph: A servant at Wuthering Heights for 60 years
Mr Lockwood: The first narrator who rents Thrushcross Grange to escape society
Frances: Hindley's ailing wife and mother of Hareton Earnshaw
4. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall ( Anne )
First Edition: June 1848 by Thomas Cautley Newby as Acton Bell
My rating: 10.
Goodreads rating: 3,98
Key characters:
Helen Lawrence Huntingdon, known also under her alias Helen Graham, the protagonist of the novel
Arthur Huntingdon, Helen's abusive and alcoholic husband
Gilbert Markham, a twenty-four-year-old farmer, is the principal narrator in the novel
Master Arthur Huntingdon, The son of Arthur Huntingdon and Helen
Annabella Wilmot / Lady Lowborough, Flirtatious, bold and exquisitely beautiful. She has an affair with Arthur Huntingdon for several years.
Frederick Lawrence, Helen's brother who helps her to escape from Huntingdon
Lord Lowborough, a friend of Huntingdon's and Annabella's husband
Ralph Hattersley, a friend of Huntingdon's, marries Milicent because he wants a quiet wife
Milicent Hargrave, a meek woman married to Ralph Hattersley against her will.
5. Shirley ( Charlotte )
First Edition: 1849 by Smith, Elder & Co. as Currer Bell
My rating: 8
Goodreads rating: 3,75
Key characters:
Caroline Helstone: The main character. A timid but also wise and capable young woman, the niece of Rev. Helstone
Shirley Keeldar – An orphaned heiress to a fortune. A headstrong, independent and determined young woman.
Robert Gérard Moore – An industrialist whose textile mill is idle because of the war.
Louis Gérard Moore – Robert's brother, working as a tutor for Shirley's uncle.
Rev. Matthewston Helstone – Caroline's uncle. Marriage has made him distrustful of women in general.
Hortense Gérard Moore – Robert and Louis's sister.
Mrs Pryor – Shirley's wise governess, who moves to Fieldhead together with Shirley. She turns out to be Caroline's long-lost mother, Mrs Agnes Helstone.
6. Vilette ( Charlotte )
First Edition: January 1853 by Smith, Elder & Co. as Currer Bell
My rating: 9
Goodreads rating: 3,77
Key characters:
Lucy Snowe: The narrator and main character of Villette. A quiet, self-reliant, intelligent, 23-year-old woman
M. Paul Emanuel: An irascible, autocratic professor at Mme. Beck's pensionnat.
Dr. John Graham Bretton: A young English gentleman who is a physician. He is the son of Lucy's godmother, Mrs. Bretton
Mrs. Bretton: Dr. John Graham Bretton's mother and Lucy's godmother.
Polly Home/Countess Paulina Mary de Bassompierre: A 17-year-old English girl who is a cousin of Ginevra Fanshawe.
Ginevra Fanshawe: A beautiful but shallow and vain 18-year-old English girl with a light, careless temperament.
Madame Beck: The owner and headmistress of the boarding school for girls where Lucy is employed.
7. The Professor ( Charlotte )
First Edition: 1857 by Smith, Elder & Co. as Currer Bell
Actually Brontë's first novel witten around 1846-47. It was originally not accepted by her publisher
My rating:
Goodreads rating: 3,57
Key characters:
William Crimsworth: The protagonist. An orphaned child who goes to Belgium, where he becomes a "professor"
Charles: Seemingly William's only friend at Eton.
Edward Crimsworth: William's tyrannical elder brother who is an accomplished tradesman, owner of a Yorkshire mill
Monsieur Francois Pelet: The French headmaster of a boys' school in Belgium
Mademoiselle Zoraïde Reuter: The Catholic headmistress of the school in Belgium.
Frances Evans Henri: A pupil-teacher at the school in Belgium where William Crimsworth finds himself.
8. Emily Brontë Complete Poems
First Edition: 1846 ( some of them ) by Smith & Elder
My rating:
Goodreads rating: 4,16
Including:
All hushed and still within the house’ ‘O come with me’ She dried her tears, and they did smile ‘What winter floods, what showers of spring’.
Long neglect has worn away It will not shine again I know not how it falls on me
9. Tales of Angria ( Charlotte )
First Edition: - Most of these were written by Charlotte in the early 1840's
My rating:
Goodreads rating: 3,75
Including:
The Foundling
My Angria and the Angrians
Albion and Marina
Tales of the Islanders
Tales of Angria
10. Emma ( Charlotte )
Unfinished novel 1855. Two continuations were written in 1980 and 2003 ( Emma Brown by Clare Boylan / Emma by Constance Savery )
My rating:
