Taten Shirley is director of interdisciplinary studies and associate professor of humanities at Faulkner University.

The three Brontë sisters—Charlotte (1816–55), Emily (1818–48), Anne (1820–49)—between them wrote a total of seven novels. Whether the siblings discussed the effects of the industrial revolution one cannot know, but their fiction reveals a profound interest in the social changes it brought on. Their books ask how women can achieve agency. The answer is brought to the fore in complex novels that show protagonists who saw beyond love and marriage to the enriching possibilities of education and work. By 1855 the sisters were all dead, but their writings lived on and helped bring about social change. In 1904 Virginia Woolf visited the Brontë home on the moors: their knicknacks did not speak to her, but the novels still did. Over time scholarship has enriched understanding of the dark truths of Victorian change. This book is easy to read and well researched, and it includes useful chapter notes in addition to the customary scholarly apparatus. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

• IntroductionSection I: Decentering MarriageChapter 1: Subverting the Separate Spheres DoctrineChapter 2: Resisting Control and Maintaining AgencyChapter 3: Rejecting Marriage as a Means to an EndSection I: ConclusionSection II: Education as the AnswerChapter 4: The Pitfalls of the Education of a Victorian MaleChapter 5: A Call for Equal EducationSection II ConclusionSection III: Challenging Class AssumptionsChapter 6: The Governess’s ParadoxChapter 7: Transcending Class in Wuthering HeightsChapter 8: Class Compromise in ShirleySection III ConclusionSection IV: Work as an EqualizerChapter 9: Subverting Gender RolesChapter 10: Work as EmpoweringChapter 11: The Dignity of WorkSection IV ConclusionConclusionEpilogueBibliographyAbout the Author

Taten Shirley is director of interdisciplinary studies and associate professor of humanities at Faulkner University.

The three Brontë sisters—Charlotte (1816–55), Emily (1818–48), Anne (1820–49)—between them wrote a total of seven novels. Whether the siblings discussed the effects of the industrial revolution one cannot know, but their fiction reveals a profound interest in the social changes it brought on. Their books ask how women can achieve agency. The answer is brought to the fore in complex novels that show protagonists who saw beyond love and marriage to the enriching possibilities of education and work. By 1855 the sisters were all dead, but their writings lived on and helped bring about social change. In 1904 Virginia Woolf visited the Brontë home on the moors: their knicknacks did not speak to her, but the novels still did. Over time scholarship has enriched understanding of the dark truths of Victorian change. This book is easy to read and well researched, and it includes useful chapter notes in addition to the customary scholarly apparatus. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

• IntroductionSection I: Decentering MarriageChapter 1: Subverting the Separate Spheres DoctrineChapter 2: Resisting Control and Maintaining AgencyChapter 3: Rejecting Marriage as a Means to an EndSection I: ConclusionSection II: Education as the AnswerChapter 4: The Pitfalls of the Education of a Victorian MaleChapter 5: A Call for Equal EducationSection II ConclusionSection III: Challenging Class AssumptionsChapter 6: The Governess’s ParadoxChapter 7: Transcending Class in Wuthering HeightsChapter 8: Class Compromise in ShirleySection III ConclusionSection IV: Work as an EqualizerChapter 9: Subverting Gender RolesChapter 10: Work as EmpoweringChapter 11: The Dignity of WorkSection IV ConclusionConclusionEpilogueBibliographyAbout the Author

Taten Shirley is director of interdisciplinary studies and associate professor of humanities at Faulkner University.

The three Brontë sisters—Charlotte (1816–55), Emily (1818–48), Anne (1820–49)—between them wrote a total of seven novels. Whether the siblings discussed the effects of the industrial revolution one cannot know, but their fiction reveals a profound interest in the social changes it brought on. Their books ask how women can achieve agency. The answer is brought to the fore in complex novels that show protagonists who saw beyond love and marriage to the enriching possibilities of education and work. By 1855 the sisters were all dead, but their writings lived on and helped bring about social change. In 1904 Virginia Woolf visited the Brontë home on the moors: their knicknacks did not speak to her, but the novels still did. Over time scholarship has enriched understanding of the dark truths of Victorian change. This book is easy to read and well researched, and it includes useful chapter notes in addition to the customary scholarly apparatus. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

• IntroductionSection I: Decentering MarriageChapter 1: Subverting the Separate Spheres DoctrineChapter 2: Resisting Control and Maintaining AgencyChapter 3: Rejecting Marriage as a Means to an EndSection I: ConclusionSection II: Education as the AnswerChapter 4: The Pitfalls of the Education of a Victorian MaleChapter 5: A Call for Equal EducationSection II ConclusionSection III: Challenging Class AssumptionsChapter 6: The Governess’s ParadoxChapter 7: Transcending Class in Wuthering HeightsChapter 8: Class Compromise in ShirleySection III ConclusionSection IV: Work as an EqualizerChapter 9: Subverting Gender RolesChapter 10: Work as EmpoweringChapter 11: The Dignity of WorkSection IV ConclusionConclusionEpilogueBibliographyAbout the Author