Description
Drawing heavily from personal experience, Anne Brontë wrote Agnes Grey in an effort to represent the many 19th-century women who worked as governesses and suffered daily abuse as a result of their position.
Having lost the family savings on risky investments, Richard Grey removes himself from family life and suffers a bout of depression. Feeling helpless and frustrated, his youngest daughter, Agnes, applies for a job as a governess to the children of a wealthy, upper-class English family.
Ecstatic at the thought that she has finally gained control and freedom over her own life, Agnes arrives at the Bloomfield mansion armed with confidence and purpose. The cruelty with which the family treats her, however, slowly but surely strips the heroine of all dignity and belief in humanity.
Anne Brontë, the somewhat lesser-known sister, was in fact the first to finish and publish Agnes Grey under the pseudonym Acton Bell. Charlotte and Emily followed shortly after with Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.
Anne died of what is now known to be pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of just twenty-nine; she published only one further title, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Like Agnes Grey, that novel is feminist in nature, and Anne's brave voice resonates during one of the most prejudiced and patriarchal periods of English history.
A tale of female bravery in the face of isolation and subjugation, Agnes Grey is a masterpiece. Its simple, prosaic style propels the narrative forward in a gentle yet rhythmic manner that continually leaves the reader wanting to know more.
Endorsements
'Possessed of all the qualities and style of a Jane Austen title.' — George Moore
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