Charlotte received her education at an orphanage (which she described in her novel Jane Eyre). After that she worked as a governess and a teacher. The works of Charlotte Bronte, together with Charles Dickens, William Thackery and Elisabeth Gaskell are considered to belong to the fine school of English realism of the first half of the 19th century.

In her works she wrote about the society she lived in and criticized it. Her first novel The Professor was published only after Charlottte's death. The best novel Jane Eyre, published in 1847, is partly biographical. In 1849 the novel Shirley was published. The story is about the Luddits, workers who did not understand that the real enemy of the working class were the capitalists and aristocrats. They thought that machinery, which they destroyed, was their enemy.

The last novel Vilette came out in 1853.

Charlotte Bronte died from tuberculosis in 1855.

The three Bronte sisters are well known writers and their books are published in many countries.