Anne Brontë in the context of "Branwell Brontë"

Charlotte Nicholls (née Brontë; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855), commonly known by her maiden name Charlotte Brontë (/ˈʃɑːrlət ˈbrɒnti/, commonly /-teɪ/), was an English novelist and poet, and was the elder sister of Emily, Anne and Branwell Brontë. She is best known for her novel Jane Eyre, which was first published under the pseudonym Currer Bell. Jane Eyre was a great success on publication, and has since become known as a classic of English literature.

Charlotte was the third of six siblings born to Maria Branwell, the daughter of a Cornish merchant, and Patrick Brontë, an Irish clergyman. Maria died when Charlotte was only five years old, and three years later, Charlotte was sent to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire, along with her three sisters, Maria, Elizabeth and Emily. Conditions at the school were appalling, with frequent outbreaks of disease. Charlotte's two elder sisters fell ill there and died shortly afterwards at home; Charlotte attributed her own lifelong ill-health to her time at Cowan Bridge, and later used it as the model for Lowood School in Jane Eyre.

A romance or romantic novel is a genre fiction work focused on the relationship and romantic love between two people, often concluding with an emotionally satisfying or optimistic ending. Authors who have significantly contributed to the development of this genre include Samuel Richardson, Frances Burney, Maria Edgeworth, Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, and Anne Brontë.

Romance novels can encompass various subgenres, such as fantasy, contemporary, historical romance, paranormal fiction, sapphic, and science fiction. They may also contain tropes such as enemies to lovers, second chance, and forced proximity. While women have traditionally been considered the primary readers of romance novels, a 2017 study commissioned by the Romance Writers of America found that men accounted for 18% of romance book buyers.

Victorian literature is English literature during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901). In the Victorian era, the novel became the leading literary genre in English. English writing from this era reflects the major transformations in most aspects of English life, from scientific, economic, and technological advances to changes in class structures and the role of religion in society. The number of new novels published each year increased from 100 at the start of the period to 1000 by the end of it. Famous novelists from this period include Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, the three Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë), Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), Thomas Hardy, and Rudyard Kipling.

The Romantic period was a time of abstract expression and inward focus; during the Victorian era, writers focused on social issues. Writers such as Thomas Carlyle called attention to the dehumanizing effects of the Industrial Revolution and what Carlyle called the "Mechanical Age". This awareness inspired the subject matter of other authors, like poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning and novelists Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy. Barrett's works on child labor cemented her success in a male-dominated world where women writers often had to use masculine pseudonyms. Dickens employed humor and an approachable tone while addressing social problems such as wealth disparity. Hardy used his novels to question religion and social structures.

Wuthering Heights is the only novel by the English author Emily Brontë, initially published in 1847 under her pen name "Ellis Bell". It concerns two landowning families living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent relationships with the Earnshaws' ethnically uncertain foster son, Heathcliff. Driven by themes of love, possession and revenge, the novel, influenced by Romanticism and Gothic fiction, is considered a classic of English literature.

Wuthering Heights was accepted by publisher Thomas Newby along with Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey before the success of their sister Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre, but they were published later. The first American edition was published in April 1848 by Harper & Brothers of New York. After Emily's death, Charlotte edited a second edition of Wuthering Heights, which was published in 1850.

Emily Jane Brontë (/ˈbrɒnti/, commonly /-teɪ/; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English writer best known for her 1847 novel Wuthering Heights. She also co-authored a book of poetry with her sisters Charlotte and Anne entitled Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell.

Emily was the fifth of six Brontë siblings, four of whom survived into adulthood. Her mother died when she was three, leaving the children in the care of their aunt, Elizabeth Branwell. Apart from brief intervals at school, Emily was mostly taught at home by her father, Patrick Brontë, who was the curate of Haworth. She was very close to her siblings, especially her younger sister Anne, and together they wrote little books and journals depicting imaginary worlds. She was described by her sister Charlotte as solitary, strong-willed and nonconforming, with a keen love of nature and animals.

Maria Brontë (née Branwell; 15 April 1783 – 15 September 1821) was an English woman and the mother of the English writers Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë, Charlotte Brontë and of their brother Branwell Brontë, who was a poet and painter.

Born in Penzance, Maria Branwell was the daughter of a successful Methodist merchant and civic leader. After the deaths of her parents, at age 29, Branwell moved to Yorkshire to help her aunt with the domestic needs of Woodhouse Grove School. There she met Patrick Brontë, who also worked for the school as a classics examiner; they married after a brief courtship. Much of her married life was spent in Thornton. Maria Branwell gave birth to Maria (deceased in childhood), Elizabeth, Charlotte, Patrick (known as Branwell), Emily, and Anne. Shortly after Anne's birth, the family moved to Haworth. Within a year, Maria Branwell fell critically ill for eight months and died, aged thirty-eight. Maria's sister Elizabeth Branwell became ward for Maria's children.

Patrick Brontë (/ˈbrɒnti/, commonly /-teɪ/; born Patrick Brunty; 17 March 1777 – 7 June 1861) was an Irish Anglican priest and author who spent most of his adult life in England. He was the father of the writers Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, and of Branwell Brontë, his only son. Patrick outlived his wife, Maria Branwell, by forty years, by which time all of their six children had also died.