Three Brontes

Three noteworthy works by the remarkable mid-19th Century British sisters Emily, Charlotte, and Anne Bronte: "Wuthering Heights" (Emily Bronte, 1847), "Jane Eyre" (Charlotte Bronte, 1847), and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" (Anne Bronte, 1848).  In a preface Charlotte says, "Averse to personal publicity, we veiled our own names under those of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell; the ambiguous choice being dictated by a sort of conscientious scruple at assuming Christian names positively masculine, while we did not like to declare ourselves women, because - without at that time suspecting that our mode of writing and thinking was not what is called 'feminine' - we had a vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice; we had noticed how critics sometimes use for their chastisement the weapon of personality, and for their reward, a flattery which is not true praise."