Charlotte Brontë published Villette in 1853. After an unspecified family disaster, the protagonist Lucy Snowe, a quiet, self-reliant, intelligent, 23-year-old woman, travels from her native England to the fictional French-speaking city of Villette to teach at a girls' school, where she is drawn into adventure and romance.
Villette was Charlotte Brontë's third and last novel; it was preceded by The Professor (her posthumously published first novel, of which Villette is a reworking), Jane Eyre, and Shirley.