Agnes Grey

A largely autobiographical work, Agnes Grey is the tale of a lowly governess in the employ of the English gentry. The novel examines the contempt and inhumanity shown towards the poor though educated women of the Victorian Age, whose only resource was to become a governess.

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Auteur

English novelist and poet Anne Bront was the youngest, and least recognized, member of the Bront literary family. She wrote a volume of poetry with her sisters, Charlotte and Emily, before publishing two novels under the name Acton Bell. Bront achieved modest success with her first novel, Agnes Grey, which was based on her time working as a governess, but her second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was a triumph, selling out in just six weeks. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is also considered one of the first feminist novels, with depictions of alcoholism and immorality that were profoundly disturbing in the 19th century. Bront died of tuberculosis in 1849 at the age of 29. Collectively, the Bront sisters' novels are considered literary standards that continue to influence modern writers.