Her heroine Lucy Snowe possesses neither beauty or fortune but her cool demeanur belies a passionate heart. Friendless and alone in the world she takes up a position at a girls' school in Brussels presided over by the indomitable Madame Beck. There she falls under the spell of the vain irascible and noble-hearted professor M. Paul emanuel.
Seldom has the ebb and flow of a love affair been portrayed so harrowingly and movigly. In its wit and flashes of poetry its depth and movingly. In its wit and flashes of poetry its depth and originality of character for many readers Villette is Charlotte Brontë's crowning achievement.