Revolutionary.Bronts most feminist novel.Lyndall Gordon Charlotte Bront has us by the hand forces us along her road makes us sense what she sees never leaves us for a moment or allows us to forget her.Virginia Woolf Shirley the second published novel from Charlotte Bront is a propulsive social narrative that exposes the discord between the sexes classes and economic structure of early 19th century England. Set in 18111812 during the strife of the industrial revolution this classic novel is a story of love struggling against social unrest and the conventions of the roles of women. When Robert Moore a struggling mill owner decides to replace many of his employees with a new piece of machinery a group of protesters destroys it before it is delivered.