Charlotte Brontë (1816–55) was the third of the three famous Brontë sisters. Along with their brother, they grew up in the isolated Yorkshire village of Haworth with no real schooling and little care. The Brontë sisters tried for ten years to make their living as governesses. Finding the occupation hateful, they decided to set up their own school. To prepare themselves, Charlotte and Emily set off for Brussels to learn French and German. Back in Haworth, Charlotte and her sisters published a volume of poems; though only two copies were sold, the Brontës were stimulated to attempt novels. Emily’s Wuthering Heights and Anne’s Agnes Grey found publishers, but Charlotte’s offering was returned with the suggestion she try again. The manuscript of her next novel, Jane Eyre, was accepted overnight and became an immediate success. Shirley, Villette, and The Professor complete the tally of her novels.

Adriana Trigiani is an award-winning playwright, television writer, and documentary filmmaker. Her books include the New York Times bestseller The Shoemaker’s Wife; the Big Stone Gap series; Very Valentine; Brava, Valentine; Lucia, Lucia; and the best-selling memoir Don’t Sing at the Table, as well as the young adult novels Viola in Reel Life and Viola in the Spotlight. She has written the screenplay for Big Stone Gap, which she will also direct. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.

Helen Benedict is the author of such novels as Sand Queen, A World Like This, Bad Angel, and The Sailor’s Wife. She is a professor at Columbia University, where she teaches writing and literature in the Graduate School of Journalism.