Mina Laury

by Charlotte Brontë, Frances Beer (Editor)

The quintessential romantic heroine -- and the prototype of Jane Eyre.

Set in the imaginary kingdom of Angria, Charlotte Brontë’s early story of the Duke of Zamorna and his loyal mistress, Mina Laury, demonstrates the birth of her lifelong obsession with the degrees and forms of human passion. 'Mina Laury' is taken from The Juvenilia of Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë, which is published in Penguin Classics.

The cover shows a detail from Portrait of Henrietta Sontag, 1831, by Paul Delaroche, in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg (photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY)

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Short Stories, Victorian, British Literature

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1838

About the author

Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist, the eldest out of the three famous Brontë sisters whose novels have become standards of English literature. See also Emily Brontë and Anne Brontë.

Charlotte Brontë was born in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, the third of six children, to Patrick Brontë (formerly "Patrick Brunty"), an Irish Anglican clergyman, and his wife, Maria Branwell. In April 1820 the family moved a few miles to Haworth, a remote town on the Yorkshire moors, where Patrick had been appointed Perpetual Curate. This is where the Brontë children would spend most of their lives. Maria Branwell Brontë died from what was thought to be cancer on 15 September 1821, leaving five daughters and a son to the care of her spinster sister Elizabeth Branwell, who moved to Yorkshire to help the family.

In August 1824 Charlotte, along with her sisters Emily, Maria, and Elizabeth, was sent to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire, a new school for the daughters of poor clergyman (which she would describe as Lowood School in Jane Eyre). The school was a horrific experience for the girls and conditions were appalling. They were regularly deprived of food, beaten by teachers and humiliated for the slightest error. The school was unheated and the pupils slept two to a bed for warmth. Seven pupils died in a typhus epidemic that swept the school and all four of the Brontë girls became very ill - Maria and Elizabeth dying of tuberculosis in 1825. Her experiences at the school deeply affected Brontë - her health never recovered and she immortalised the cruel and brutal treatment in her novel, Jane Eyre. Following the tragedy, their father withdrew his daughters from the school.

At home in Haworth Parsonage, Charlotte and the other surviving children — Branwell, Emily, and Anne — continued their ad-hoc education. In 1826 her father returned home with a box of toy soldiers for Branwell. They would prove the catalyst for the sisters' extraordinary creative development as they immediately set to creating lives and characters for the soldiers, inventing a world for them which the siblings called 'Angria'. The siblings became addicted to writing, creating stories, poetry and plays. Brontë later said that the reason for this burst of creativity was that:

'We were wholly dependent on ourselves and each other, on books and study, for the enjoyments and occupations of life. The highest stimulus, as well as the liveliest pleasure we had known from childhood upwards, lay in attempts at literary composition.'

After her father began to suffer from a lung disorder, Charlotte was again sent to school to complete her education at Roe Head school in Mirfield from 1831 to 1832, where she met her lifelong friends and correspondents, Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor. During this period (1833), she wrote her novella The Green Dwarf under the name of Wellesley. The school was extremely small with only ten pupils meaning the top floor was completely unused and believed to be supposedly haunted by the ghost of a young lady dressed in silk. This story fascinated Brontë and inspired the figure of Mrs Rochester in Jane Eyre.

Brontë left the school after a few years, however she swiftly returned in 1835 to take up a position as a teacher, and used her wages to pay for Emily and Anne to be taught at the school. Teaching did not appeal to Brontë and in 1838 she left Roe Head to become a governess to the Sidgewick family -- partly from a sense of adventure and a desire to see the world, and partly from financial necessity.

Charlotte became pregnant soon after her wedding, but her health declined rapidly and, according to biographer Elizabeth Gaskell, she was attacked by "sensations of perpetual nausea and ever-recurring faintness." She died, with her unborn child, on 31 March 1855.

Reviews

[Rosemary Atwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slight but intriguing sample of pre ‘Jane Eyre’ writing (I hesitate to call it juvenilia, as it was completed when Charlotte Bronte was turning twenty-two!).

To be honest, I was more taken by the exquisite cover than the tale itself, but for Bronte enthusiasts who are keen to explore the world of Angria, this is as good a place to start as any. It’s gently melodramatic, almost believable and - aside from the frustrating breaks in the story line that are reduced to apologetic interpolations by the editor - quick, enjoyable reading.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief sampling from her voluminous juvenilia, featuring the dashing and decadent Duke of Zamorna, his passionately clinging wife, and his obsessively, even creepily, devoted mistress Mina. Elements of illicit sexuality and masochism that one might not expect from its very young author.

[Bernadette · Rating 1 out of 5]

Two women gush over and subserviate themselves to a lord who strings them both along. Don't bother. Scenes are separated by parenthetical notes that would become actual chapters if this was a novel and not just a literary sketch.

[elisa☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last year, I read Brontë's ‘’The Green Dwarf’’, which I found very boring. What added to my disliking was that her writing was not well formed, chaotic, understandably, since she was just 17 when she wrote it.

I discovered ''Mina Laury'' online at a very low price. Since I had never heard of it before, I decided to purchase and read it, hoping for a better experience than with her earlier work. ''Mina Laury'' was written five years later. As I read, I could sense her language developing, moving toward the style she later became known for.

Overall, I found ''Mina Laury'' quite pleasant, though at times messy, as I occasionally felt lost. Charlotte even acknowledges this herself at the end of the book, writing, ''I have done my best to please you.''

[Catie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the story is a mere 55 pages, Mina Laury reveals much about Charlotte Bronte's early talent for writing. This fragment is an Angrian Tale (Angria being the imaginary land that Charlotte invented with her brother Branwell), which could be confusing for those who are expecting a short story along the vein of Jane Eyre or Vilette. Even though this story is a great find for Bronte buffs everywhere, the plot itself is mild and the conclusion somewhat ambiguous.

[hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Oh, I dread those long, weary, sleepless nights I’ve had lately, tossing through many hours on a wide, lonely bed, with the lamps decaying round me. Now I think I could sleep if only I had a kind letter for a talisman to press to my heart all night long.”

[Steph Mecir]

For class. It was fine

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading Charlotte Bronte's juvenile "Tale of Angria" which I read from my Delphi collection of the Bronte's work but after I read this short novella, I was curious about the Penguin publishing "Tale of Angria" that seemed to have five instead of four stories, so I read that to compare. The Delphi version seemed to have two slightly but similar storyline in part 1 & 2. It seemed strange and it seemed this was not complete. The Penguin did include a different part 1, that dealt with Zamora and his father in law Northangerland, with his wife Maria. I had thought Mina Laury was a soldier's daughter but it seemed her father was a peasant. Zamora is the center character and all around him rotate around his political control of Angria and the womanizer that he is. It is interesting to read her earlier work that her brother Barnwell helped in their creation of Angria. Confusing at times because earlier stories not surviving but Penguin's edition is very helpful in sorting unknowns out, Elizabeth Gaskell's help in her find of these early works is priceless.

Story in short- Zamora has survived and won his country's civil war, he has to deal with his father in law and his young wife worries about her husband loving other women and leaving her behind.


➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿➿
Penguin publishing synopsis below

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This latter is apparently Charles Townshend, a later version of Brontë’s early favourite Lord Charles Wellesley, younger brother of Zamorna.
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Mina Laury is set in the aftermath of the disastrous civil war which resulted from the Earl of Northangerland’s plotting against Zamorna. Zamorna, who is married to Northangerland’s daughter Mary, has returned, victorious, from exile; he is back with his wife, whom he
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had divorced and discarded in order to punish her father. Partly because of this marriage, but largely because of the enduring fascination between them, he continues to see his former enemy. Northangerland – now a broken- down, querulous, elderly man – is confined to Alnwick, his country estate, where he lives with his wife Zenobia. Here, at the beginning of Mina Laury, Zamorna and Mary are visiting her father and his wife. Angria has been devastated and the situation in the country is unstable, largely
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because of the King’s continuing close association with the man who attempted his overthrow. The war has also had a devastating effect upon Zamorna’s marriage. The once spirited Mary Percy, his wife, is now the anxious ‘prey to a hundred vague apprehensions’ – partly because of her husband’s strategic repudiation of her, and partly because of his continuing infidelities. The most serious of these latter is his attachment to Mina Laury, who as a simple peasant girl was the object of his ‘first passion’
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when both were young together in their ‘western’ homeland, Senegambia. Mina, who has been his trusted confidante in all his political projects and who shared his exile during his temporary defeat, is now a beautiful and intelligent woman, living in retirement at the country house where he has established her. Mina Laury opens with a conversation between Zenobia and Zamorna, at breakfast in Alnwick House. Zenobia and Zamorna have
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been friends since youth, and maintained their closeness throughout the months of the civil war; the two are at ease together.

➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
From Delphi collection of her work

Tales of Angria
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In 1834 Charlotte and her brother Branwell created an imaginary kingdom called Angria, producing a series of tiny handmade books. Continuing their saga some years later, the five ‘novelettes’ were written by Charlotte when she was in her early twenties, depicting an aristocratic beau monde in witty and ironic style. Together the tales provide a fascinating glimpse into the mind and creative processes of the young
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writer before she became the great novelist.

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THE CROSS OF Rivaulx! Is that a name familiar to my readers? I rather think not. Listen then: it is a green, delightful, and quiet place half way between Angria and the foot of the Sydenham Hills;
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Bright delicate links of gold circled her neck again and again, and a cross of gems lay on her breast, the centre stone of which was a locket enclosing a ringlet of dark brown hair — with that little soft curl she would not have parted for a kingdom.
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Warner’s eyes were fixed with interest on Miss Laury as she stood over him, a model of beautiful vigour and glowing health; there was a kind of military erectness in her form, so elegantly built, and in the manner in which her neck, sprung from her exquisite bust, was placed with graceful uprightness on her falling shoulders. Her waits too, falling in behind, and her fine slender foot, supporting her in a regulated position, plainly indicated familiarity from her childhood with the sergeant’s drill. All the afternoon she had been entertaining her exalted guests — the two in the porch were no other than Lord Hartford and Enara — and conversing with them, frankly and cheerfully. These were the only friends she had in the world. Female acquaintance she never sought, nor if she had sought, would she have found them. And so sagacious, clever, and earnest was she in all she said and did, that the haughty aristocrats did not hesitate to communicate with her often on matters of first-rate importance.
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Mr Warner was now talking to her about herself. ‘My dear madam,’ he was saying in his usual imperious and still dulcet tone, ‘it is unreasonable that you should remain this exposed to danger. I am your friend — yes, madam, your true friend. Why do you not hear me and attend to my representations of the case? Angria is an unsafe place for you. You ought to leave it.’ The lady shook her head. ‘Never. Till my master compels me, his land is my land.’
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‘But — but, Miss Laury, you know that our army have no warrant from the Almighty. This invasion may be successful at least for a time; and then what becomes of you? When the duke’s nation is wrestling with destruction, his glory sunk in deep waters, and himself striving desperately to recover it, can he waste a thought or a moment on one woman?’ Mina smiled. ‘I am resolved,’ said she. ‘My master himself shall not force me to leave him. You know I am hardened,
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Warner; shame and reproach have no effect on me. I do not care for being called a camp follower. In peace and pleasure all the ladies of Africa would be at the duke’s beck; in war and suffering he shall not lack one poor peasant girl. Why, sir, I’ve nothing else to exist for. I’ve no other interest in life. Just to stand by his grace, watch him and anticipate his wishes, or when I cannot do that, to execute them like lightning when they are signified; to wait on him when he is sick or wounded, to hear his groans and
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I know I am of no repute amongst society at large because I have devoted myself so wholly to one man. And I
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know that he even seldom troubles himself to think of what I do, has never and can never appreciate the unusual feelings of subservience, the total self-sacrifice I offer at his shrine. But then he gives me my reward, and that an abundant one.

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‘Then, for instance, the last summer evening that he came here, the sun and flowers and quietness brightened his noble features with such happiness, I could tell his heart was at rest; for as he lay in the shade where you are now, I heard him hum the airs he long, long ago played on his guitar. I was rewarded then to feel that the house I kept was pleasant enough to make him forget Angria and recur to home.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert

The Penguin edition had the first chapter dealing with Zamora and his political issues that includes a father in law that looked to bring Zamora down bit is unsuccessful. Zamora's wife is young and wanting to be her husband, Zamora loves to love women but seems not to truly love them. His brutality is seen when he thinks if his wife had seen him with Mina Laury just moments before he would have had to kill her. Mary, his wife searching for him disguised as wife of a clergyman comes to his cottage where Mina lives. He fools his wife, he wants to pacify his wife and tells her a tale about Mina being the housekeeper and sister of a fictionalized man that lives at the cottage. Mary's father is a debauched man who has remarried and his wife knows Zamora for years and loves him. There is uproar in Angria about Zamora spending time with his father in law who tried to destroy Zamora. Mina loves Zamora, so when Lord Hartford loves Mina passionately but she refuses his proposal saying she is Zamora's and she lives only for him. Lord Hartford looks to have his revenge on Zamora with a duel, which leaves Lord Hartford life hanging by a thread. Zamora tests Mina and finds she loves him and he would rather see her dead than to be with another.

[sophie ⚘ · Rating 2 out of 5]

55 pages of me going "what the heck?"

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is very clear from reading this book that Charlotte Bronte's skills and sensibilities developed a lot in between the time that this was written and the time when Jane Eyre emerged. Although her style remains similar, in her novels the language is less florid, the characters more individual, the heroines more mature and the plot much tighter. It was interesting to read Mina Laury from this perspective, but I personally don't think that it has much to recommend it in and of itself.

Confusingly, both the eponymous Mina Laury (mistress of the Duke of Zamorna) and Mary (wife of the Duke of Zamorna) speak with indistinguishable voices. Both are young, attractive, and entirely without backbone, something Charlotte Bronte thankfully amends by the time she creates the wonderful Jane Eyre. They are also both hopelessly in love with the Duke, in spite of the fact that he has the incredibly unheroic, unromantic name of Adrian (I think Sue Townsend has coloured this name for me somewhat). The Duke seems to respond passionately to both women in the same way at different times, so I was thoroughly confused as to with whom he was supposedly in love.

Not only are the characters rather lacking, the story is convoluted and confused. When an author ends their work saying, 'I have done my best to please you, and though I know that through feebleness, dullness, and iteration my work terminates in failure rather than triumph, yet you are bound to forgive it, for I have done my best,' it is apparent that this isn't exactly their best work. However, in this case I don't think it was helped by the edition which abridges the story considerably, including large summaries in parentheses before switching to a completely unconnected scene. It made the story feel very disjointed and I can't help wondering if some of the character problems weren't smoothed over a bit in the gaps. I would recommend that anyone interested in Charlott Bronte's early work avoids this volume in favour of a more complete edition.

[Phil Syphe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charlotte Brontë was in her early twenties when she wrote this, so it's not juvenilia as some readers may label it, though it has the same feel as her childhood writing whilst bearing no resemblance to her famous works.

"Mina Laury" has hardly any plot to speak of. Essentially, the story revolves around a love-triangle, but to add to the mix one of the two women involved has a lovesick admirer.

It's hardly fair to criticize a work of this nature, considering the author was not writing for the public. At the height of her success Charlotte Brontë would doubtless never have dreamed of "Mina Laury" being published.

In short, if you're a Brontë fan wanting to read everything the famous sisters ever wrote, check this out with no high expectations.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really a significant work, but a bit of fun from juvenilia. It is a tiny book, part of a series of tiny books brought out by Penguin in the 1990s, all costing 60p at the time, and I picked it up at a railway station as something to read on the train. I couldn't really follow the plot, if there is one. Some of the attitudes to sexual behaviour and manners seem surprising coming from such a young author and from a Victorian vicarage background! Good dialogue, otherwise does not really come across as laying the ground for the subsequent novels.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically I was going to love this book anyway because it's Charlotte Bronte. I know, though, that it's not the best thing she did. By a long shot. The characters are kind of vapid and there's no real plot. The ending is also...not. But doesn't the last paragraph just get you though?

[Quirkyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is part of the Bronte's Angrian Saga.

[Kitty-Lydia Dye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the gothic aesthetic and one particular line--the creeping plant imagery. I can see parts where it juxtaposes with Charlotte Brontë's own life. Though I do wish the two female leads, Mina and Mary, left the love interest--I found him utterly repellent!
I also think this story can seem a little confusing/unfinished when it is read as a singular story (my version is a mini-pocket book which was published by Penguin). I believe it would help shape the overall world of Angria and the characters themselves if the other short stories are read together as a linked narrative. I didn't even realise there was more to this until I looked up the Mina Laury story.
Overall, I found it an enjoyable quick read :)

[Barbara O'Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little Bronte to find on my bookshelf when making a house move I was not aware I had. The writing style is enjoyable I was engaged from the start sitting by my window with a coffee - this 50+ page book was a nice start to my day. Whilst the writing style engaged me the story itself had me at a loss -- 2 subjugated women - a mistress & a wife as play things to a duke. I am not sure whether Bronte's contemporary readers would have viewed this any differently or would they? did Bronte want us to see Mina as a crazy stalker? a deluded wife? a mysognist duke? & are we supposed to feel sorry for Hartfeld? - umm a bit rapey...

[Robyn Maire · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Is that homage paid to Miss Laury's goodness or to her beauty?'' asked he.
'To neither, my lord,' answered Enara briefly, 'but to her worth, her sterling worth.'

So this story is just 55 pages, and thus the tiniest book I own & ever read. At first, I was a little confused about whether Mina and Mary were the same person or not, but when I got things straight my enjoyment of the story increased. The story and the characters were so dramatic, but even though I normally wouldn't enjoy that, I did in this book!
I really liked Charlotte Brontë's writing style and I am curious to read more of her.

[Marina Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting as the only one of the Angria stories I have read. Bronte meets mills and boon in parts but mature in sentiment as the Duke gets away with keeping both mistress and wife and gratuitously injuring potential suitor of mistress whom she has already rejected

[Gulzira · Rating 2 out of 5]

Neznachitelnaya, sumburnaya povest Bronte, osnovnaya nit - slepaya predannost i rabskaya lubov Miny Laury k gersogu Zamorne.

[Ruby malik · Rating 2 out of 5]

fun plot but classics just aren’t for me okay 😩

[Meg Klepacz · Rating 5 out of 5]

very fun, very quintessentially charlotte.

[Sam Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

to be fair to mina the duke's wife here seems like a real drip

[grace :) · Rating 3 out of 5]

men rlly aint shit

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would have been so great as a full finished novel

[Dre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite kind of story, but I appreciated this "juvenilia" as a preview to her later works.

[Cora · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting short story which shows potential, and gives us some insight into the genius who would go on to write a masterpiece like Jane Eyre.

[Alex McAuley-Biasi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was really just fine. Really interesting to see what Charlotte Bronte's short story writing was like, and I'll definitely read more, but I don't think it's going to stick with me.

[Joanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

This short story was super weird, while the premise was actually quite intriguing it was too short to be of any value. Had Bronte developed it into a 150-200 word story it would have more potential

[K' Lati]

The kings favorite mistress goes on and on about how shes been corrupted and likes it. The kings wife shows up in the end but theres no real drama going on I like how descriptive this book was.

[Isabel (kittiwake) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mini-book containing Charlotte Brontë juvenilia. A short story about the Duke of Zamorna's mistress, set in the imaginary land of Angria.