Which Brontë novel was published posthumously?

The Professor was the Brontë novel published posthumously. Charlotte Brontë wrote it in 1846, before Jane Eyre, but publishers rejected the manuscript during her lifetime.

The novel finally appeared in 1857, two years after Charlotte’s death. Her widower, Arthur Bell Nicholls, approved the publication and helped review and edit the text. It was therefore the first of Charlotte’s novels to be written, but the last to be published.

The story follows William Crimsworth, a young Englishman who becomes a teacher in Brussels. Its setting reflects Charlotte’s own experiences: in 1842 she studied languages and worked as a teacher in Brussels, where she encountered the school environment that helped shape the book.

The Professor is often confused with Villette because both draw on Charlotte’s Brussels experiences. Villette, published in 1853, reworks some of the earlier novel’s material from the perspective of a female teacher. Wuthering Heights, Shirley, and Villette were all published during Emily, Charlotte, or Anne Brontë’s lifetimes.