The Life of Charlotte Bronte

The Life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Gaskell. The Complete 2 Volumes. The Life of Charlotte Bront is the posthumous biography of Charlotte Bront by fellow novelist Elizabeth Gaskell. The first edition was published in 1857 by Smith, Elder & Co.. A major source was the hundreds of letters sent by Bront to her lifelong friend Ellen Nussey. Gaskell had to deal with some sensitive issues. She toned down some of her material: in the case of her description of the Clergy Daughters' School, attended by Charlotte and her sisters, this was to avoid legal action from the Rev. William Carus Wilson, the founder of the school. The published text does not go so far as to blame him for the deaths of two Bront sisters, but even so the Carus Wilson family published a rebuttal with the title "A refutation of the statements in 'The life of Charlotte Bronte, ' regarding the Casterton Clergy Daughters' School, when at Cowan Bridge".