Charlote Bronte was a natural story - teller with a gift for creating memorable characters and for evoking atmosphere. The novel is set among the cloth mills of the author`s native Yorkshire and she succeeds brilliantly in creating the full drama of the latter part of the Napoleonic Wars when labour – saving machinery was smashed by desperate, unemployed workers.
Rich in historical detail, Shirley is a human as well as a social novel with a perpetual relevance in its exploration of humanity`s efforts to reconcile personal and economic aspirations with social justice and harmony.