Shirley Annotated

Shirley, A Tale is a social novel by the English novelist Charlotte Bronte, first published in 1849.

It was Bronte's second published novel after Jane Eyre originally published under Bronte's pseudonym Currer Bell.

The novel is set in Yorkshire in 1811 to 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.