President's April 2023 Address

Our late Queen Elizabeth was born in this month as was Charlotte Bronte in 1816 who was the eldest of the 3 Bronte sisters. Charlotte wrote Jane Eyre, and was the author of the less well known second novel in 1849, ’Shirley, A Tale’, under the pseudonym Currer Bell and later wrote The Professor and Villette. Sadly, whilst writing Shirley all her siblings including her brother died. ‘Shirley’ features the lives of two women born into very different circumstances. It was set in 1811/12 during turbulent times, political unrest, uprisings, and industrial depression resulting from the Napoleonic Wars. It could be read as a sociological comment on women’s lives at that time. At that time in history Shirley was exclusively a name given to males but it is thought that this novel brought about the name switch to become an almost exclusively female one. Considered as good as Jane Eyre , If you haven’t read it maybe this is one to try. I might suggest this book as my next book club choice.

Julie