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StoryPDFVilletteCharlotte Bronte

Villette

Charlotte Bronte

Complete text
NovelEnglish

Lucy Snowe leaves familiar surroundings and seeks work in the continental town of Villette, eventually teaching at a girls’ school. Her reserved account follows friendships, professional demands, and uncertain attachments. In a social world where she often stands apart, observation becomes both a resource and a means of guarding herself.

42 sections194,405 wordsAbout 14 h 44 min
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About Villette

Lucy’s control over what she reveals makes the act of narration part of the emotional drama. Isolation is registered through rooms, language, religion, and the difficulty of securing dependable companionship. Notice when she tells readers less than she knows, and how her sharp judgments can coexist with a longing for recognition that she is reluctant to expose.

Reading focus

Read Lucy’s silences as carefully as her judgments, especially where professional independence and guarded longing shape what she chooses to reveal.

This reading edition contains 194,405 words in 42 original sections. Read the text online with adjustable type and three colour themes, or keep a printable PDF.

Author: Charlotte Bronte. Language: English. Reading edition: 28 October 2026.

Opening excerpt

My godmother lived in a handsome house in the clean and ancient town of Bretton. Her husband’s family had been residents there for generations, and bore, indeed, the name of their birthplace—Bretton of Bretton: whether by coincidence, or because some remote ancestor had been a personage of sufficient importance to leave his name to his neighbourhood, I know not.

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Contents

All sections
  1. CHAPTER I. BRETTON.12 min
  2. CHAPTER II. PAULINA.11 min
  3. CHAPTER III. THE PLAYMATES.28 min
  4. CHAPTER IV. MISS MARCHMONT.15 min
  5. CHAPTER V. TURNING A NEW LEAF.9 min
  6. CHAPTER VI. LONDON.20 min
  7. CHAPTER VII. VILLETTE.16 min
  8. CHAPTER VIII. MADAME BECK.26 min
  9. CHAPTER IX. ISIDORE.20 min
  10. CHAPTER X. DR JOHN.13 min
  11. CHAPTER XI. THE PORTRESS’S CABINET.12 min
  12. CHAPTER XII. THE CASKET.19 min
  13. CHAPTER XIII. A SNEEZE OUT OF SEASON.19 min
  14. CHAPTER XIV. THE FÊTE.51 min
  15. CHAPTER XV. THE LONG VACATION.23 min
  16. CHAPTER XVI. AULD LANG SYNE.27 min
  17. CHAPTER XVII. LA TERRASSE.17 min
  18. CHAPTER XVIII. WE QUARREL.13 min
  19. CHAPTER XIX. THE CLEOPATRA.21 min
  20. CHAPTER XX. THE CONCERT.38 min
  21. CHAPTER XXI. REACTION.30 min
  22. CHAPTER XXII. THE LETTER.17 min
  23. CHAPTER XXIII. VASHTI.24 min
  24. CHAPTER XXIV. M. DE BASSOMPIERRE.24 min
  25. CHAPTER XXV. THE LITTLE COUNTESS.24 min
  26. CHAPTER XXVI. A BURIAL.27 min
  27. CHAPTER XXVII. THE HÔTEL CRÉCY.29 min
  28. CHAPTER XXVIII. THE WATCHGUARD.22 min
  29. CHAPTER XXIX. MONSIEUR’S FÊTE.24 min
  30. CHAPTER XXX. M. PAUL.19 min
  31. CHAPTER XXXI. THE DRYAD.19 min
  32. CHAPTER XXXII. THE FIRST LETTER.16 min
  33. CHAPTER XXXIII. M. PAUL KEEPS HIS PROMISE.15 min
  34. CHAPTER XXXIV. MALEVOLA.21 min
  35. CHAPTER XXXV. FRATERNITY.22 min
  36. CHAPTER XXXVI. THE APPLE OF DISCORD.26 min
  37. CHAPTER XXXVII. SUNSHINE.26 min
  38. CHAPTER XXXVIII. CLOUD.44 min
  39. CHAPTER XXXIX. OLD AND NEW ACQUAINTANCE.20 min
  40. CHAPTER XL. THE HAPPY PAIR.12 min
  41. CHAPTER XLI. FAUBOURG CLOTILDE.25 min
  42. CHAPTER XLII. FINIS.6 min

Reading & download help

Is this the complete Villette?

This edition contains the complete English literary text, with 42 sections and 194,405 words. This reading edition preserves the checked English text and its section order. No study notes have been added.

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