Agnes Grey is the daughter of Mr. Grey, a minister of modest means, and Mrs. Grey, a woman who left her wealthy family and married purely out of love. Mr. Grey tries to increase the family's financial standing, but the merchant he entrusts his money to dies in a wreck, and the lost investment plunges the family into debt.
Agnes, her sister Mary, and their mother all try to keep expenses low and bring in extra money, but Agnes is frustrated that everyone treats her like a child. To prove herself and to earn money, she is determined to get a position as a governess. Eventually, she obtains...

Agnes Grey tells the story of a young woman who takes on a job as a governess in order to help her family. Believing that she will be a capable teacher, Agnes embraces the idea of her job, but soon learns the task is not as easy as she once thought. Difficult students and pampering parents combine to make her job almost impossible. Agnes perseveres, though, and soon finds the life that she has prayed to have. Agnes is the daughter of a clergyman. Her mother was born to a rich family that disinherited her when she decided to marry a man with no wealth. She schools her daughters at home,...

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is the second novel by Anne Bronte. In this novel, Anne Bronte tells the story of Mrs. Huntingdon, the wife of an alcoholic from whom she feels it necessary to protect her son. Mrs. Huntingdon runs away from her husband, taking her son and living in her ancestry home under the name of Mrs. Graham, a widow living on what she can make selling paintings. During this time, Mrs. Graham meets and falls in love with a local farmer, Mr. Gilbert Markham, whose love she cannot return until the death of her husband or dissolution of her marriage. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall...

The novel tells the story of Agnes Grey, the daughter of a pastor whose family falls into poverty. Desperate to earn money for their own maintenance, take one of the few jobs available for respectable ladies of the Victorian era -the governess to the children of upper-class families. When working with two different families (Bloomfield and Murray) is aware of the problems facing a young woman who must try to take the reins of spoiled and undisciplined children just to live from their work. It is also aware of the ability of wealth and status to destroy social values. After the death of his...

Follow Agnes as she grows into a woman. Suddenly in poverty, Agnes finds a position as a governess to help support her family. As she goes from wealthy family to wealthy family, Agnes withstands mischievous boys, spoiled girls, and disinterested parents. When her father falls ill, she returns home and tries to regain her life. Will she find love if she is always working?

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is the second and final novel by the English author Anne Bronte. It was first published in 1848 under the pseudonym Acton Bell. Probably the most shocking of the Brontes' novels, it had an instant and phenomenal success, but after Anne's death her sister Charlotte prevented its re-publication. The novel is framed as a series of letters from Gilbert Markham to his friend and brother-in-law about the events leading to his meeting his wife. A mysterious young widow arrives at Wildfell Hall, an Elizabethan mansion which has been empty for many years, with her young son...

This novel follows Agnes Grey, a governess, as she works within families of the English gentry. Scholarship and comments by Anne's sister Charlotte Bronte suggest the novel is largely based on Anne Bronte's own experiences as a governess for five years. Like her sister Charlotte's novel Jane Eyre, it addresses what the precarious position of governess entailed and how it affected a young woman. The choice of central character allows Anne to deal with issues of oppression and abuse of women and governesses, isolation and ideas of empathy. An additional theme is the fair treatment of animals....

A mysterious young widow arrives at Wildfell Hall, an Elizabethan mansion which has been empty for many years, with her young son. She lives there under an assumed name, Helen Graham, and very soon finds herself the victim of local slander. Refusing to believe anything scandalous about her, Gilbert Markham discovers her dark secrets. In her diary Helen writes about her husband's physical and moral decline through alcohol and the world of debauchery and cruelty from which she has fled. This passionate novel of betrayal is set within a moral framework tempered by Anne's optimistic belief in...

Agnes Grey is the daughter of a minister, whose family comes to financial ruin. Desperate to earn money to care for herself, she takes one of the few jobs allowed to respectable women in the early Victorian era, as a governess to the children of the wealthy. In working with two different families, the Bloomfields and the Murrays, she comes to learn about the troubles that face a young woman who must try to rein in unruly, spoiled children for a living, and about the ability of wealth and status to destroy social values. After her father's death, Agnes opens a small school with her mother and...

Agnes Grey is the debut novel of English author Anne Bronte (writing under the pen name of Acton Bell), first published in December 1847, and republished in a second edition in 1850. 1] The novel follows Agnes Grey, a governess, as she works within families of the English gentry. Scholarship and comments by Anne's sister Charlotte Bronte suggest the novel is largely based on Anne Bronte's own experiences as a governess for five years. Like her sister Charlotte's novel Jane Eyre, it addresses what the precarious position of governess entailed and how it affected a young woman. The choice of...