The biography 'The Life of Charlotte Brontë' by her friend and contemporary Elizabeth Gaskell was first published in 1857 to great acclaim and remains a fascinating insight into the life of the 'Jane Eyre' author. It contains Gaskell's own personal recollections through her friendship with Charlotte, as well as excerpts from letters and beautiful descriptions of the Yorkshire landscape. It follows Charlotte's life through from her lonely childhood and difficult schooldays, to her literary career, marriage and death barely a year later. Though a revealing account of Charlotte's life and experiences, Gaskell held back on many of the more sensational details so as to avoid affronting a Victorian audience, such as Charlotte's infatuation with a married man, and the shocking ill-treatment the Brontë sisters received at school. A must-read for fans of both Charlotte Brontë and Elizabeth Gaskell

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