Shirley was written in circumstances very different from any of the Brontës' previous works. It was not merely that its writing was interrupted by the deaths of Branwell, of Emily, of Anne; that this was the first of the extraordinary productions of that extraordinary family to be completed outside of that intimate circle of excited, hopeful discussion of which Charlotte Brontë's first biographer was to tell. Less striking, in retrospect, but perhaps no less significant is the fact that Shirley was the first of the Brontë novels to be written by a famous author. Charlotte's long apprenticeship in literature had culminated in success. One, at least, of those youthful 'scribblemaniacs' now had an established place amongst the writers of the day.

‘There has been no higher point in the whole history of English fiction’ writes Raymond Williams of the year in which Shirley was conceived. Dickens’ Dombey and Son, Thackeray’s Vanity Fair and Kingsley’s Yeast were all appearing in parts; Mrs Gaskell’s Mary Barton was to be published before Shirley was complete.And it was against her famous contemporaries that its author measured herself. ‘Mr Thackeray, Mr Dickens, Mrs Marsh, & c., doubtless enjoyed facilities for observation such as I have not’, Charlotte Brontë had written to her publisher just before the appearance of Jane Eyre.‘Certainly they possess a knowledge of the world, whether intuitive or acquired, such as I can lay no claim to – and this gives their writings an importance and a variety greatly beyond what I can offer the public.’