Shirley is a social novel by the English novelist Charlotte Brontë, first published in 1849. It was Brontë's second published novel after Jane Eyre (originally published under Brontë's pseudonym, "Currer Bell"). The novel is set in Yorkshire in 1811-12, during the industrial depression resulting from the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. The novel is set against the backdrop of the Luddite uprisings in the Yorkshire textile industry.
The novel's popularity led to “Shirley” becoming a woman's name. The title character was given the name that her father had intended to give a son. Before the publication of the novel, Shirley was an uncommon but distinctly male name. Today it is regarded as a distinctly female name.
While Charlotte Brontë was writing Shirley, three of her siblings died. Her brother Branwell died in September 1848, and her sister Emily fell ill and died in December. Brontë resumed writing but then her only remaining sibling, her sister Anne, became ill and died in May 1849.
Some critics believe that the character of “Caroline Helstone” was loosely based on Anne and it has been speculated that Brontë originally planned to let Caroline die but changed her mind because of her family tragedies; however, Ellen Nussey, Charlotte's lifelong friend, claimed that the character of Caroline was based on herself.
Charlotte Brontë told Elizabeth Gaskell that “Shirley” is what she believed her sister, Emily Brontë, would have been if she had been born into a wealthy family. Again, Ellen Nussey, who knew Emily as well as anyone outside the family, did not recognise Emily in Shirley.
The maiden name of “Mrs. Pryor” is “Agnes Grey,” the name of the main character in Anne's first novel. She was based on Margaret Wooler, the principal of Roe Head School, which Brontë attended as both student and teacher.
