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.

Choice Reviews

Taten Shirley's The Industrial Brontës: Advocates for Women's Equality in a Turbulent Age admirably serves an instructive purpose for undergraduates and general readers seeking accurate knowledge of the Victorian era and jargon-free thematic discussions of gender in the Brontë sisters' novels.

Victorian Studies