Shirley | Fiction - www.zzdbook.com

Shirley

Nov 27, 2025 10:06 PM

Author:Charlotte Bronte,Lucasta Miller,Jessica Cox

Shirley

Struggling manufacturer Robert Moore has introduced labour saving machinery to his Yorkshire mill, arousing a ferment of unemployment and discontent among his workers. Robert considers marriage to the wealthy and independent Shirley Keeldar to solve his financial woes, yet his heart lies with his cousin Caroline, who, bored and desperate, lives as a dependent in her uncle's home with no prospect of a career. Shirley, meanwhile, is in love with Robert's brother, an impoverished tutor - a match opposed by her family. As industrial unrest builds to a potentially fatal pitch, can the four be reconciled? Set during the Napoleonic wars at a time of national economic struggles, Shirley (1849) is an unsentimental, yet passionate depiction of conflict between classes, sexes and generations.

Reviews

A real page turner and so entertaining... I'm recommending this book to everyone!

—— Amanda Holden , New Woman

Chick-lit with bells on, but fun with it

—— Nottingham Evening Post

Like her contemporaries, Carol Shields and Alice Munro, Hoffman has an acute eye for detail - Hoffman writes with heartbreaking clarity

—— The Times

[Hoffman] does it beautifully, composing a lyrical tale that does not waster a single word, a shamelessly heart-breaking story that will leave barely a dry eye in the house

—— Lesley McDowell , Independent on Sunday

Enchanting

—— Sunday Times

It's easy to get absorbed in this novel...Life is not like this, but would it be such a bad thing if there were a it more magic in the world?

—— Daily Telegraph

Hoffman delivers one of the best plot twists I can remember

—— Observer

Hoffman is a skilled and experienced writer... beautifully constructed

—— Guardian

A strangely provocative, grown-up fairy fable

—— Good Housekeeping

Cuts deeply into the griefs and passions that shape us all and into heartbreaking secrets

—— The Times

Emotionally compelling

—— Psychologies Magazine

Hoffman writes as beautifully as ever

—— Marie Claire

Hoffman knows that good fairytales, like people, are never simple

—— Herald

Beautifully written, mystical and intriguing, this is a story of life, death, love and second chances. Enthralling

—— Woman and Home

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