Villette

What it is

This is an audio recording of the novel Villette, read by a LibriVox volunteer and released into the public domain. The text is Brontë's own, but the voice belongs to a modern reader, not to Brontë. The novel is drawn on her years in Brussels, and it follows Lucy Snow, who leaves home after a family tragedy to teach at a French boarding school.

Why it matters

The recording lets listeners hear the book's story and language in spoken form. Brontë wrote Villette after her time in Brussels, where she studied and taught, and the school and the people in the book reflect that experience. The novel is part of a body of work that changed how English readers saw women's inner lives and their work outside the home.

Look closer

• How does the reader's voice change the way you hear Lucy Snow's feelings compared with reading the text silently?
• Which parts of the story seem drawn from Brontë's own experience, and which might be invented?
• What does the book leave out about the lives of the French students and teachers?