The novel is set in the English countryside, in London, and (mainly) in the fictional city of Villette (based upon Brussels) in the fictional Kingdom of Labassecour (based upon Belgium). "Labassecour" is French for farmyard.
Charlotte Bront? (1816-1855) was an English novelist and poet. She was the eldest of the three Bront? sisters, all of whom were gifted writers. The most prolific of the three sisters, Charlotte authored a number of children's stories as well as several novels, including "Shirley", "Villette", and "The Professor". She published her first success, "Jane Eyre", under the pseudonym Currer Bell in 1847.