I grew up in a school that had one of the best libraries. It was brand new because the school was brand new. The library had this amazing collection of penguin classics, especially the ones with the black spine. There were two entire rows of shelves filled with black penguin classics. At that time, I wasn't much of a reader. Though I appreciated books and especially loved being in the library surrounded by those classic books and going through the amazing covers lost in daydreaming, reading didn't come that easy to me.
I came across Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte only a few years back and that changed everything for me. Jane Eyre pulled me into the world of other Victorian literature and kindled a love for reading. After Jane Eyre, I immediately jumped onto all the other Bronte books, all of them, and then got on to discovering Elizabeth Gaskell, Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, and so many other Victorian-era authors. Villette by Charlotte Bronte is one book that haunts me. And if I had to choose one book to take with me on a deserted island, I think it would be Villette.
Villette tells the story of Lucy Snowe. When the story starts, she is a teenager staying at her godmother's house. Through her, we meet and get to know young Polly and John, but we get to know so little of Lucy's own situation. Once she goes back home, circumstances change, both for her godmother and for herself, and for the worst turn of events. Lucy ends up taking a job as a caretaker to an invalid lady. She works there for some years. But then again, circumstances change, and it forces her to take a drastic measure. With very little money and no relation, she makes the bold decision to go to London. From there, she decides to journey to Villette.
All this happen in first few pages into the book. At this point, one can't help but be amazed by Lucy and her decision to jump and grow wings on the way. Often in life, we are faced with similar circumstances that push us to carry forward and carry on with life instead of giving up or giving in, but how many of us have that courage? From this point of story, I found myself rooting for Lucy and the brand-new adventure that awaits her.
People often say once you decide on something and work towards it, the universe conspires to make your dreams come true. Well, that is exactly what happens with Lucy. She reaches Villette but ends up losing her luggage and then her way, but she ends up at the doorstep of Madame Beck's boarding school for young ladies. She takes a job in the boarding school and a new chapter in her life unfolds.
Lucy is one solitary character. Reading this book makes me comprehend loneliness in a whole new way. The way she values relationships that comes her way is heart-wrenching at times. This book also does justice to unrequited love. In this book, there is a scene where Lucy loses her letter from John in the midst of a commotion happening in the school. Though I think the other party was pretty thick-headed not to comprehend her feeling, seeing her reaction at the loss of the letter, for the first time we see her emotion that is kept well checked
This books also tackle depression due to loneliness in a way no other books did before or around its time. While reading this may be a sad and sombre experience, it is also intense in terms of emotions trapped inside Lucy, which often burst into flames in small moments, here and there.
Villette is also a little autobiographical in a sense that it weaves in Charlotte's own experience in Brussels when she was studying there. She famously had a one-sided fling with her french professor, which was kind of scandalous considering the fact that he was married. The letters that Charlotte wrote to the professor are preserved and their content just shows how amazing she was.
Writing this strangely makes me what to reread Villette again, in this dreary cold winter.
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