Shirley (Unabridged‪)‬

The novel Shirley by Charlotte Brontë (1849) followed the huge popular success of her debut, Jane Eyre. The setting is an environment which is industrializing at a rapid pace during the Napoleonic Wars. This is the story of two heroines occupying vastly different social positions in life. Caroline Helstone, trapped in a Yorkshire rectory, serves as a symbol of all the single women of the time. On the other hand, there’s Shirley Keeldar, an independent woman whose wealth has liberated her. 

In this work, Charlotte Brontë imagined a new type of power to be enjoyed by women, as portrayed by Ms. Keeldar, whose extraordinary freedom has accustomed her to think for herself.