Synopses & Reviews
In her daring first novel, the youngest Brontand#235; sister drew upon her own experiences to tell the unvarnished truth about life as a governess. Like Agnes Grey, Anne Brontand#235; was a young middle-class Victorian lady whose family fortunes had faltered. Like so many other unmarried women of the nineteenth century, Brontand#235; accepted the only "respectable" employment availableand#8212;and entered a world of hardship, humiliation, and loneliness.
Written with a realism that shocked critics, this biting social commentary offers a sympathetic portrait of Agnes and a moving indictment of her brutish and haughty employers. Separated from her family and friends by many miles, paid little more than subsistence wages, Agnes stands aloneand#8212;both in society at large and in a household where she is neither family member nor servant. Agnes Grey remains a landmark in the literature of social history. In addition to its challenge to the era's chauvinism and materialism, it features a first-person narrative that offers a rare opportunity to hear the voice of a Victorian working woman.
Dover (2006) unabridged republication of the work originally published by Thomas Cautley Newby, London, 1847. Introductory Note.
Synopsis
First published in a volume that also contained her sister's Wuthering Heights, Brontë's daring first novel was hailed as "the most perfect prose narrative in English literature" by famed Irish novelist George Moore. Originally quite scandalous and drawing from the author's own troubled life, this biting social commentary exposes the hardships of a governess's life.
Synopsis
Drawn from Brontand#235;'s own troubled life, this novel exposes the hardships of a governess's world and offers a rare opportunity to hear the voice of a 19th-century working woman.
Table of Contents
I. The Parsonage
II. First Lessons in the Art of Instruction
III. A Few More Lessons
IV. The Grandmamma
V. The Uncle
VI. The Parsonage Again
VII. Horton Lodge
VIII. The "Coming Out"
IX. The Ball
X. The Church
XI. The Cottagers
XII. The Shower
XIII. The Primroses
XIV. The Rector
XV. The Walk
XVI. The Substitution
XVII. Confessions
XVIII. Mirth and Mourning
XIX. The Letter
XX. The Farewell
XXI. The School
XXII. The Visit
XXIII. The Park
XXIV. The Sands
XXV. Conclusion