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Shirley  By  cover art

Shirley

By: Charlotte Brontë
Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
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Publisher's summary

Set in the industrialising England of the Napoleonic wars, a period of bad harvests, Luddite riots, and economic unrest, Shirley is the story of two contrasting heroines and the men they love. One is the shy Caroline Helstone, trapped in the oppressive atmosphere of a Yorkshire rectory, whose life represents the plight of single women in the 19th century. The other is the vivacious Shirley Keeldar, who inherits a local estate and whose wealth liberates her from convention.
(P)2007 Isis Publishing Ltd.

What listeners say about Shirley

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

"As Romantic As Monday Morning"

I have read this book many times since the seventies but this was my first time with the audio version. I knew the story or thought I knew the story but Anna Bentinck's performance allowed me to understand things which I had missed entirely. She is wonderful. Her voice reveals the subtle humor and touches of playfulness of the story. The oppressive sense of loneliness or despair which figure in the Bronte sisters' works, Agnes Grey, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights or Villette is somehow replaced with optimism and hope.

Charlotte Bronte had a dust-up with her publisher over his praise of Jane Austen. Charlotte had some negative thoughts about Austen and was not shy in expressing them. After listening to this story, I now wonder if she wasn't influenced a bit after all. The Charlotte who wrote Jane Eyre and the one who wrote Shirley seem to be different writers. This story has dirt under the fingernails. Not to overstate the case, the sprinkle of comic characters would suggest an Austen influence. Now I have done it! The Bronte sisters will rise from their graves to pummel me as I sleep.

My title quotes the author describing her story I think with accuracy. If she were a portrait artist, her paintings would be in the fashion of Vincent van Gogh's "The Potato Eaters" or in the harsh interplay of shadow and light on the canvas of Edgar Degas. Charlotte Bronte paints with fine brush strokes one color, one image after another, piling them on the canvas until the ungainly rough features of her story takes form. Yet, there are even flashes of Johannes Vermeer's delicate brush strokes, brilliant colors and of love shinning in the eyes of the "Girl with the Pearl Earring". Sometimes she paints the delicate beauty of flower gardens in moonlight evenings but also of harsh, glaring Monday mornings, the gritty, sometimes mean realities and human flaws.

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70 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Holy Mackerel!

First, Anna Bentinck gives a spectacular performance. She is clear, well-paced, and gives different characters to all of the major persona. Not an easy task in a book that you need a playbill for just to keep up. I'll definitely seek out more by her.

"Shirley" is something of a sleeper in the Bronte canon. It's an interesting treatise on the independence and status of women in the early 19th century -- long before there was much feminist activism. The book has an interesting political and economic aspect. A quick look at the Wikipedia page on Luddites will put things in context if your British history is as lacking as mine.

But it is also tragically romantic and downright steamy even at points. Perhaps it's just a modern perspective that sees this as so obvious, but it is hard to imagine how this wasn't considered scandalous by Victorian moral standards. Of course, everyone keeps their clothes on, both feet on the floor and no one ever does anything more than briedly hold hands.

My book club selected this as our "long" summer read, and two of us finished before June had barely begun. Worth a read!

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43 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

My love of the Classics

I recently fell in love with classic novels (less than a year) & I have found Charlotte Bronte's novels superb. The use of descriptive language makes me realize how much we (as a society) have lost with the growth in technology. No one utilizes language in this imaginative manner anymore! Shirley is an excellent, heart-warming novel. It is the perfect companion to any task or hobby.

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

a better listen than read

This was proof to me of the value of audiobooks! I picked up my paperback of "Shirley" several times over the last 20 years but never got past the introductory chapters. As a listen, I very much enjoyed "Shirley" as a 19th century novel-romance and for the characters and the commentary on women's roles. I was disappointed in it as an "industrial novel," but I guess it's the best the experience a Bronte could furnish. I thought Gaskill's later "North-South" was a better example of that sub genre, but I do not find Gaskill's novels as satisfying a reading (or listening) experience.

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it!

I loved this novel - it's one of my favorite Brontë novels, possibly even more so than "Jane Eyre." The pages are filled with affection and good humor. It's hard to believe it was written during a period that saw all of Charlotte Brontë's siblings die, one after the other. There are dark deeds here, and gloomy prospects, but all resolves in the end: a devotee of Jane Austen (which I also am) couldn't wish for anything better.

History impinges on the story: the Napoleonic Wars are in progress, Wellington is campaigning in Spain, and Luddite riots are damaging and destroying newly mechanized mills.Yorkshire is hard hit. Brontë meets this head-on, and while I wish she had gone into more detail there, she does make it a linchpin of her plot.

Anna Bentinck is an outstanding narrator. One of the main characters especially - Caroline, sometimes also known as Cary or Lina - is mostly a passive observer, and it would have been easy for her to come across as dull and dispirited; yet Bentinck's reading of her is almost sprightly. Caroline is quiet but is not without humor. It's a tough balancing act, because the title character, Shirley, IS a very sprightly, assertive, and unusual character. Yet Bentinck is able to fully characaterize her while still giving Caroline her due.

I've been on a campaign to read all the Brontë novels. In doing so I've discovered treat after treat. This is one of the best.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Nothing can stop me from loving Bronte

This novel is long, 24 hours of listening pleasure. It was so very interesting, considering it is a historical piece. I love learned about the Napolean era and the effects it had on England. Charlotte weaves in the characters within this terrible time in history. The narrator is excellent. I was lost in time once again. I am amazed that Charlotte wrote and completed this book during a span of which her 3 remaining siblings died. Her brother, Ann Bronte, and Emily Bronte. She is definitely a novelist I would have liked to meet!

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Shirley

This is not Charlotte Bronte's best book and at times it is a bit tedious but an enjoyable experience in spite of this.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best story I have listened to in years

I still can't believe this book has escaped me for nearly fifty years...it's now my favorite from Charlotte Bronte. For me, this story sort of has it all: great, sympathetic characters, many different story threads that come together beautifully, compelling protagonists, historical context, a bit of mystery, a bit of love story, terrific narration, and an excellent pace.

I look forward to listening to this again very soon.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Bronte Heaven

Although it's not as spectacular as Jane Eyre and not as psychologically compelling as Villette, Shirley still gives you 20 some hours of Brontë heaven. Bronte is one of our greatest writers ever to have lived. She writes from and about the soul.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Not good!

I really wanted to like this book, but it's so hard to be interested in. I gravitate to mid 19th century english fiction and I like historical novels. This has both, but the is so boring. Characters are described, but I don't feel any connection to them. I haven't completed the book (it's a drudge to turn on this book), but I wanted to warn others. The narrator is only OK - she struggles with the accents and too many of the characters are extremely nasily. Really - move on to something else - this is such a disappointment. At least this book made me investigate the Luddite era, so I did learn something - but much more from Wikpedia than from this story.

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5 people found this helpful