Shirley

Shirley is an interesting book. Not as emotionally satisfying as the sublime Villette or Jane Eyre, it does have interesting portraits of characters. Caroline seems to be in some ways a mirror of Charlotte herself, like many of Charlotte's heroines. Yet Caroline's heart is so beautifully painted for us that we find it hard to leave her story and wade through the plot of the attack on the mill. Still, the book is informative about the times. Shirley seems to be agreed upon as a portrait of Emily. I feel that Charlotte, writing much of Shirley as Emily was rapidly dying and then finishing it after her death, took the story in a direction that it would not otherwise have taken. The story initially seems to be Caroline's story and Charlotte loses sight of that about mid way through the novel. Yet Shirley is a good novel and worth having on your book shelf.