The eldest of the three Bront? sisters, Charlotte is best known for her novel Jane Eyre, which was published under the pseudonym Currer Bell. Bront? s works were revolutionary for their time, reflecting a truthfulness about love and relationships that was not common in Victorian-era England. While Jane Eyre was, and continues to be, her most popular work, Charlotte Bront? published numerous works during her short life, including juvenilia, poetry, and the novels Shirley and Villette. Charlotte Bront? died in 1855, outliving both of her sisters, Anne and Emily. Collectively, the Bront? sisters novels are considered literary standards that continue to influence modern writers.

Jill Kriegel, English Department Chair at St. Joseph's Catholic School in Greenville, SC, earned her Ph.D. at Florida Atlantic University. Her dissertation explores Augustinian echoes in the works of Charles Dickens. She has published in the Saint Austin Review, including essays on Chaucer, Shakespeare, Charlotte BrontE, and Dickens. Her essay, "Shakespeare's Friar Laurence: Romeo and Juliet's Near-Tragic Hero and a Case Against Natural Magic," appeared in LOGOS: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture. A slightly amended version of this essay appears also in the Ignatius Critical Edition of Romeo and Juliet.