Product Description

Drawing directly on her own experiences, Anne Bronte describes the isolation and dark ambiguity of the governess's life as lived by her fictional heroine Agnes Grey. Mature, insightful, and edged with a quiet irony, this first novel by the youngest of the Brontes displays her keen sense of moral responsibility and sharp eye for bourgeois attitudes and behavior.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #303037 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 248 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780199536634
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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About the Author
Edited by Robert Inglesfield, Lecturer in English, Birkbeck College, University of London, and Hilda Marsden. With a new Introduction and notes by Robert Inglesfield

Customer Reviews

Carries Strong Messages
Agnes Grey was first published in 1847. In what appears to be an autobiographical rendering, Anne Bronte, the sister of Charlotte and Emily, seems to draw heavily from her own life in this Victorian classic.

The story begins as Agnes Grey's family fall on hard times. Although young, with very little world experience, she is determined to help her family, financially, by hiring herself out as a governess.

Agnes manages to find a job as governess and companion to the children of some wealthy people, but finds the working conditions intolerable and leaves. She eventually is hired by the Murray family and stays with them even though her life is still miserable.

After meeting Mr. Weston, a local curate, Agnes becomes more positive and dreams of a life with him.

Although, I feel the story lacks depth, it does carry strong messages on morality and self-respect, and gives the reader a realistic glimpse into the life Anne Bronte probably experienced.

The governess
Less dramatic than her own Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and less read than her more famous sisters' works, Agnes Grey is a straightforward, semi-fictional chronicle of the experiences of a governess in 19th century England. Agnes is the younger daughter of a mother whose wealthy family disowned her for loving marrying an impoverished clergyman. To help ameliorate her family's dire financial condition , Agnes chooses to seek a situation as companion and teacher to the children of wealthier people. Though she understands well how to raise responsible children, their selfish parents undermine her attempts by neglecting yet overindulging them. Treated as underling by her employers, ignored by their servants, and plague by her students, poor Agnes must struggle alone under impossible working conditions, determined to help her own family regardless of the cost to herself. Her story comes to a happy conclusion, but Bronte was not interested in writing about "felicitous" times. Her intention with this book, to reveal some of the injustices of the class system, is achieved by example rather than preaching. Reminiscent of some of Jane Austen's stories, particularly Persuasion, Agnes Grey is a gracefully narrated, unpretentious story told with impressive effect.