Abstract
An address to the Brontë Society in 1948 in which novelist Phyllis Bentley provides an assessment of the Brontë novels in terms of themes, setting, plot, characters and other aspects of the novelist’s craft. The success of a novel can be measured by the kind of impression made and the strength of that impression. A judgement is made of the Brontë novels using these measures. (Note: the assessment of the novels of Emily and Anne Brontë have been omitted.)