Villette

Bereft of family and friends, Lucy Snowe flees her empty life in England to seek independence and fulfillment. Her gambit takes her to the Belgian town of Villette, where she secures a job teaching English to the fractious girls of Madame Beck's boarding school. Sensitive but resolute, Lucy struggles with feelings of isolation, and she despairs of her relationships with an English doctor and a haughty schoolmaster. Her dilemma — finding a romance that offers both intimacy and freedom — remains as resonant today as it was for Victorian readers.
Originally published in 1853, Charlotte Brontë's last and most autobiographical novel reflects her deep loneliness at the loss of her siblings. The remarkably modern heroine, a creature of moody complexity, far predates the advent of psychoanalysis. Villette is nevertheless a powerfully moving psychological study, acclaimed by George Eliot as "a still more wonderful book than Jane Eyre," and by Virginia Woolf as "Brontë's finest novel."

English novelist and poet Charlotte Brontë (1816–55) was the eldest of three gifted sisters whose novels have become classics of English literature and early feminist touchstones. Her works, including her best-known novel, Jane Eyre, were published under the pen name Currer Bell.

VOLUME ONE1. Bretton2. Paulina3. The Playmates4. Miss Marchmont5. Turning a New Leaf6. London7. Villette8. Madame Beck9. Isidore10. Dr. John11. The Portresse's Cabinet12. The Casket13. A Sneeze Out of Season14. The Fete15. The Long Vacation VOLUME TWO16. Auld Lang Syne17. La Terrasse18. We Quarrel19. The Cleopatra20. The Concert21. Reaction22. The Letter23. Vashti24. M. de Bassompierre25. The Little Countess26. A Burial27. The Hotel Crecy VOLUME THREE28. The Watchguard29. Monsieur's Fete30. M. Paul31. The Dryad32. The First Letter33. M. Paul Keeps His Promise34. Malevola35. Fraternity36. The Apple of Discord37. Sunshine38. Cloud39. Old and New Acquaintance40. The Happy Pair41. Faubourg Clotilde42. FinisEndnotes (Translation of French Phrases)