When Charlotte Bronte died in 1855, her father the Rev. Patrick Bronte, a widower for nearly 35 years asked Mrs Gaskell to write a life of his daughter. If, by so doing, he wished to obtain a fitting and imperishable memorial to Charlotte's genius, he could not have sought a more willing ally. Mrs Gaskell made the acquaintance of Charlotte in the summer of 1850 and the two gifted writers, though wholly different in both temperament and particular talent, found in each other a true and affectionate friend. Mrs Gaskell's Life shows a deep understanding of human nature and this, together with her own literary endowment and the affection she had for Charlotte and the Bronte family, enabled her to produce what has long been regarded as a classic of English biography as well as the portrait of a very remarkable women and an eminently distinguished literary figure.
