Lost Charlotte Brontë Short Story To Be Published

A lost short story by Charlotte Brontë has come to light - and it's in French.

According to The Guardian, "L'Ingratitude" was written by a teenage Brontë as homework for her Belgian tutor, and was uncovered by Brontë expert Brian Bracken in a museum archive in Brussels.

The story is apparently dated March 16th 1842, and was written during Charlotte and Emily Brontë's stay in the Belgian capital. According to her letters, Charlotte became infatuated with her teacher during this time.

The bizarre tale she wrote for him is about:

"a thoughtless young rat who escapes his father's protective care in search of adventure in the countryside and comes to a sorry end. The tale contrasts the solemn paternal devotion of the father with the reckless abandon of his "ingrate" offspring."

The story will be published on the London Review of Books website tomorrow.

This isn't the first time that a "lost" story by a teenage Charlotte Brontë has been discovered - in November, a tiny manuscript produced by the writer when she was 14 years old, and that told the story of a man who imprisons his enemy in the attic, was sold at auction to a Paris-based museum.