Villette (1853) is Charlotte Brontë's third novel. Lucy Snowe, a reserved young Englishwoman without family or money, goes to teach in a girls' school in the city of Villette and falls in love, first with a doctor, then with the irascible professor Paul Emanuel.
The story
After a family disaster, Lucy crosses to the kingdom of Labassecour and finds work at Madame Beck's school in Villette. She hides her feelings from everyone, including the reader.
She loves the handsome Dr John, who prefers the charming Paulina, and gradually comes to love the fiery Paul Emanuel, who sets her up in her own school before sailing to the West Indies.
Brussels
Villette is based on Brussels, where Charlotte studied and taught at the Pensionnat Héger in 1842–1843. Paul Emanuel recalls Constantin Héger, the teacher she loved without hope.
Her letters to Héger, torn up by him and kept by his wife, were published in 1913.
An ambiguous ending
The last chapter leaves open whether Paul Emanuel returns or dies in a storm at sea. Brontë's father wanted a happy ending, and she left readers to decide.
George Eliot, reading it on publication, considered Villette an even more wonderful book than Jane Eyre.
Anecdotes
A nun in the attic
A ghostly nun haunts the school in the novel, linked to a legend of a nun buried alive in the garden of the pensionnat.
Letters sewn together
Constantin Héger tore up Charlotte's letters, but his wife retrieved the pieces and sewed them back together; their children later gave them to the British Museum.
Frequently asked questions
What city is Villette based on?
Brussels, where Charlotte Brontë studied and taught.
Who is Paul Emanuel?
A professor at the school, modelled on Constantin Héger, whom Lucy loves.
How does the novel end?
Ambiguously: Paul Emanuel may have died at sea.