“I have lost a treasure, such a sister”: Sisters, Sickness, Letters and Grief | Claire O’Callaghan

“I have lost a treasure, such a Sister [sic], such a friend as never can have been surpassed, - She was the sun of my life.”, wrote Cassandra Austen on July 18, 1817, following her sister Jane’s death. As well as expressing the intensive pain of familial loss and the void left by Jane’s passing, Cassandra’s letter also captures the fullness of the sisterly bond between her and Jane. As is well known, Charlotte Brontë was no fan of Jane Austen’s published writing, but her own private letters echo the sentiments expressed in Cassandra’s letter. Like Cassandra, Charlotte experienced the same emotional pain arising from having to watch family members deteriorate and die. She lost her brother Branwell in September 1848, her sister Emily (author of Wuthering Heights) in December of the same year, and youngest sister Anne (author of Agnes Grey) in May 1849. Using the Austen family letters…