Reading and Interpreting the Works of the Bronte Sisters

The literary output of the Brontë sisters was small, but their novels remain immensely popular more than 150 years after their deaths. Each sister wrote a novel that challenged the ideas of the day on what was fit to print: Charlotte’s Jane Eyre by examining the interior life of a young girl; Emily’s Wuthering Heights by overturning the conventions of the novel, even while making use of traditional literary forms; Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by depicting a husband’s alcoholism and debauchery. This guide, which roots the writers’ work in their unusual upbringing and describes and challenges the so-called Brontë myth, aims to provide both first-time readers and long-time Brontë enthusiasts with a deeper understanding of their work and the reasons it continues to engross readers today.