The Brontë sisters (pronounce /ˈbrɒnti/), Charlotte (April 21, 1816 – March 31, 1855), Emily (July 30, 1818 – December 19, 1848) and Anne (January 17, 1820 – May 28, 1849), were English writers of the 1840s and 1850s. Their novels caused a sensation when they were first published and were subsequently accepted into the canon of great English literature.