Within the narrow confines of Haworth Parsonage the Bronte children constructed a multiform fantasy world and to their gift of intense imagination was added the quality of intense passion. The narrowness of Charlotte’s experience makes autobiography important in her novels, while her imagination and passion exalt the subjectivity of her work. Her style is autobiographical also, adding credibility to the often heightened narrative, while the moralism of her heroines often serves to stabilise this exaggeration.

This book, first published in 1968, introduces extracts from the novels of Charlotte Bronte, emphasising the author’s subjectivity, imagination and the resultant heightening of dialogue and experience. There is a central section on her heroines, while others discuss and illustrate events, other characters, the handling of time and place, speech and dialogue and the author’s place in novels. This title will be of interest to students of English Literature.