Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Brontë, the first of many biographies of the Brontës, helped to establish the family's public image as a dynasty characterised by literary genius and personal tragedy. Volume 1 covers Charlotte's life up until the publication of her poems under the pseudonym Currer Bell in 1846.

Gaskell's successful biography helped to establish the Bront s' public image as a family characterised by literary genius and personal tragedy.