What Charlotte Brontë Thought Was Worth Reading

Have you ever wondered what Charlotte Brontë actually thought was worth reading?

In 1834, a young Charlotte Brontë writes to her friend Ellen Nussey from Haworth, offering her a detailed guide to what she believes is worth reading. In this video, I go through that letter in full, exploring not just the books she recommends, but what her choices reveal about her thinking at this point in her life, and the way she understood literature, judgment, and friendship.

We look closely at poetry, fiction, history, biography, natural history, and divinity, and how Charlotte frames each of these for Ellen, sometimes with strong opinions, sometimes with encouragement, and sometimes with surprising restraint. Along the way, we also see how her ideas about reading begin to take shape long before she writes Jane Eyre.

Rather than simply a list of books, this is a window into how she thought about reading itself, what she believed mattered, and how she shared those beliefs with someone close to her.

If you would like to read Charlotte Brontë’s letter for yourself, I’ve included it below.