Author:Charlotte Bronte
Read this beautiful, romantic feminist classic from the author of Jane Eyre.
When Lucy Snowe leaves England to look for a new life on the Continent she has no idea what lies in store for her. This quiet, lonely girl must learn quickly when she finds herself teaching in a foreign school, with no friends or family to rely on. However, it's not long before figures from Lucy's past appear and she becomes involved in dilemmas which inspire new and passionate feelings in her.
'I am only just returned to a sense of the real world about me, for I have been reading Villette ... There is something preternatural about its power' George Eliot
Weird and wonderful
—— GuardianSo original, so transgressive in its content and so startlingly unorthodox in its form, that its 19th-century readers were dumbfounded by it...a visionary description of psychic life ...a subtle and dazzlingly inventive exploration of areas of consciousness never mapped in fiction before, and seldom since
—— Sunday TimesVillette has always been the most heart-squeezing of the Bronte novels...a perfect study of quiet desperation...a rich novel
—— Sunday ExpressA novel with an unconscious mind. The deeper you dig, the more disturbing it becomes
—— Lucasta Miller , IndependentCharlotte Bronte's most profound achievement
—— IndependentSensitive and timeless in the descriptions of a young woman's emotions as she copes with the pain of unrequited love
—— The TimesRomantic but refreshingly witty
—— Sunday MirrorA comic and creepy debut novel...Park transforms the banal into the eerie
—— New Yorkersketches so expertly; if you like this genre, he gets the tone just right
—— William Leith , Evening StandardPark's eye for the minutiae of office life is sharp... This is as funny as Seinfeld
—— Brandon Robshaw , The Independent on SundayChilling, compulsive, and hilarious
—— Elle, 'Read of the Month'P.G. Wodehouse wrote the best English comic novels of the century
—— Sebastian FaulksSublime comic genius
—— Ben EltonQuite simply, the master of comic writing at work
—— Jane MooreTo pick up a Wodehouse novel is to find oneself in the presence of genius - no writer has ever given me so much pure enjoyment
—— John Julius NorwichCompulsory reading for anyone who has a pig, an aunt - or a sense of humour!
—— Lindsey DavisThe Wodehouse wit should be registered at Police HQ as a chemical weapon
—— Kathy LetteWitty and effortlessly fluid. His books are laugh-out-loud funny
—— Arabella WeirThe funniest writer ever to put words to paper
—— Hugh LaurieThe greatest comic writer ever
—— Douglas AdamsP.G. Wodehouse wrote the best English comic novels of the century
—— Sebastian FaulksSublime comic genius
—— Ben EltonYou don't analyse such sunlit perfection, you just bask in its warmth and splendour
—— Stephen FryA virtuoso performance...This is a collection of stories that will be re-reading exceptionally well, like an album of brilliant songs you keep wanting to hear again
—— Brandom Robshaw , Independent on SundayFunny and furious, Kennedy's tales of floundering marriages and domestic disappointment follow an anarchic path of their own
—— IndependentKennedy's superlative work always attracts admiration
—— Lesley McDowell , Herald