Reviews for Shirley

The average rating for Shirley based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-12-15 00:00:00 William Hodges In the fast changing industrializing England of 1811-12 from farming to factories, ( the beauty of the green land, clear waters and blue skies are being destroyed rapidly by dark ugly pollution ) people will have to adapt or starve, machines are taking over sounds familiar ? A bleak future for some, others to prosper but a hiccup occurs ...Napoleon's long ruinous maybe endless war of 15 years is devastating Yorkshire's trade, embargoes by both France and her arch enemy Britain in the north of the nation like the rest of the realm, cause havoc...Robert Moore a good looking half -English, his father and Belgian mother born in that country in fact, has fled the bloody conflict across the windy channel to apparent safety , scraping up a few coins left by their deceased respectable parents, building a wool mill there, he has an older plain good heart sister Hortense, living with him and a younger even more plainer but quite intelligent, poor brother Mr.Louis a tutor, to a faraway wealthy family . Mr.Robert Moore 30, is very ambitious some say ruthless man, firing many employees and replacing them with a machine, trouble follows as in much of the nation, angry rioters called the Luddites former mill workers have been wrecking the new detested machines, threatening to kill the owners...in his small village the foreigner Robert, almost bankrupt is hated and a constant uneasy feeling of menacing violence, permeates the area. The handsome Mr. Moore has female admirers, delicate lovely Caroline Helstone, raised by a stern but not unkind parson an uncle Rev. Matthewston Helstone, and a rich beauty an orphan rather proud Shirley Keeldar, she owns the property that the mill stands on, loans Mr. Moore money to survive the economic difficulties. His brother Louis, unexpectedly arrives in the village with the family he works for, relatives of Shirley's and an arrogant uncle of her's tries to marry the highly reluctant niece, to an appropriate financially secure gentleman, settle all his troubles the loose ends, the always responsible man has his duties to perform...but things are complicated, Caroline loves Robert he loves Shirley or her money, and the penniless Louis loves Shirley...a rectangle you can figure out yourself, how to resolved the confusing situation. Not Charlotte Bronte's best book, ( obviously Jane Eyre is ) but still an interesting peek into the early Nineteenth Century's Industrial Revolution, the turmoil and deadly effects that happens in society to the ordinary people who could never really fight back in the place it all began, not so merry England.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-03-19 00:00:00 Ruth Bellenger Such an interesting read. I love the writing and some of the dialogue is wonderful. The characterisation is fascinating too, though I still don't know how I feel about the Moore brothers!