Charlotte worked as a governess and as a teacher at the school of Constantine Heger where she and Emily studied. She based many of the scenes in Villette on her frustrating experiences there. Charlotte also published a volume of poetry done by three sisters under pen names. She is best known for Jane Eyre, which achieved spectacular success.

Emily is generally considered the best writer of the three. Wuthering Heights, which skeptics attribute to her brother, is her best known work. She also published such poems as The Prisoner, Remembrance and The Visionary.

Anne, the least heralded of the writers wrote Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wilfred Hall, which critics said would not be remembered were it not for her sisters.