Reviews
"[...] Hundreds of those who, like myself, recognized and admired that master-work of a great genius, will look with a mournful interest and regard and curiosity upon this, the last fragmentary sketch from the noble hand which wrote Jane Eyre" - William Makepeace Thackeray, The Last Sketch. Charlotte was able to write only two chapters before her tragic demise in 1855. The story is narrated by a widow named Mrs. Chalfont who talks about a ladies' school owned by the Wilcox sisters.The plot progresses with the arrival of an apparently rich heiress named Matilda Fitzgibbon in the institution. We are introduced with characters of the local gentleman Mr. Ellin and a dauntless pupil of the very institution named Diana.The story takes a turn as false identity of this timid and shy girl comes out and Mr. Ellin ventures to untangle it. A couple of paragraphs follow these incidents so far mentioned and the reader comes to a dead end. As I reached the last line of this fragment, my heart swelled and before I could realise anything, tears were streaming down my cheeks. I grew pensive for a while and sank in thoughts about this promising work and what Brontë would have written had she lived. Author Clare Boylan gave a final version of this manuscript one hundred fifty years later in her novel 'Emma Brown'.
